Love, Hatred, and Revenge
by DemonicMongoose
Summary: The Shichinintai slaughter a young girl's family. Ten years later she has returned for revenge. In doing so, she becomes one of them. Soon, her and Bankotsu begin to fall in love. Will she choose him over revenge? Or will she end up with someone else?
1. The Shichinintai Attack

Disclaimer: I only own Akiko and her family. Rumiko Takahashi owns Ryuukotsusei and the Shichinintai. **sniff, sniff, tear**

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**Chapter One: The Shichinintai attack**

Akiko was angry. She had just had a fight with her family. She ran off into the woods to think. Although she was six years old, she knew that Kageyu would be protecting her.

Kageyu was the son of Ryuukotsusei. Akiko lived in a village that the powerful dragon protected. Or at least he did protect it before the dog general had sent him into dormancy when he stuck his claw into his heart. Kageyu had vowed to protect the village now. Akiko and Kageyu were close friends. They had first met two years ago when Akiko went into the forest. Kageyu was not as big as his father. In fact, he was about Akiko's height. He was about three feet long. His reddish, scaly skin went well with his orange and yellow swirled horns. His claws and fangs weren't actually razor sharp but they scared off low-life human bandits who tried to raid the village. However one group of people would not be frightened off by a small dragon who could only rely on scratching and biting to evade an enemy.

Akiko wondered aimlessly through the familiar forest. It was starting to get dark and she figured that her parents wouldn't still be mad at her so she decided to go home. As she approached the village, she could see fire coming from it. There were also the sounds of people screaming. She ran all the way there to see what was wrong. She was greeted to the sight of some of the villagers' slain bodies lying on the ground. Some where decapitated, and others were just hacked to pieces or missing some body part. Despite the horrible images Akiko ran to her home. As she got there she saw some strange looking man with her mother. He picked her up by her hair and threw her against the wall. He then picked up his bloody sword, which had been sitting next to him. The blade twirled and hit Akiko's mother. It didn't kill her. Only slash a part of her. The man hit her over and over with his sword until her mother's body was nothing more than a heap of blood and flesh. Akiko couldn't help but watch. She watched the man slowly kill her mother. She ran to see if anyone else was alive. She found her sister, Myoka, and her brother Shukida huddled behind a table. She tried to call to them but they didn't hear her. Another odd man approached her siblings. He extended the long metal claws on his gloves and bent down in front of Myoka and Shukida. He stabbed them several times until they were dead. Their bodies still twitched from their nerves. Akiko hid in the shadows as she watched the gang of mercenaries brutally slaughter every last man, woman and child in her village. She counted six of them. 'That must be all of them,' Akiko thought. That is until she came across her father. A guy who appeared to be younger than the others held a huge halberd. He held it above his head and brought it down upon her father. The enormous blade cut Akiko's father in half down the middle. The innards of him poured out through the slice. Akiko watched as the men laughed and then one of them set her village on fire. Somehow Akiko had managed to escape the eye of the killers. She fled from the village and watched as the remains of it burned down to ashes.

She came back the next day when the village had stopped burning. The still hot ashes burned her bare feet, but she didn't notice. Her entire body seemed to be numb. She didn't cry. It was too hard to believe what had happened. She kneeled down in the ruin. Nothing was left except for the ashes and the scent of blood and death. Akiko lied down wanting to drift away in the wind just like everyone else she had knew and loved. Along with her home in which she lived all of her life. She saw a piece of broken glass. The jagged edges were sharp. A sick feeling crept through her stomach. She wanted to throw up. The smoke still lingered around in the air. It covered the sky. Akiko looked to her side. She couldn't tell where the sky met the ground. It was all just gray and ugly. She picked up the glass and brought it to her throat. Preparing to end her life and be with her family like she wanted, she put the sharp edge next to her jugular. Right before it cut through her flesh, she heard a familiar voice.

"Akiko! You're alive!" Akiko sat up and saw Kageyu coming up to her. He was cut up and blood covered him.

"Kageyu!" Akiko ran to him and hugged him. "Don't worry. You'll be okay. I won't let you die too." Kageyu asked her if she was hurt. When she said no he offered to take her to live in the next village. Akiko felt something stir in her. She felt the feeling in her stomach again only this time it went down her spine and made her cringe. "No, Kageyu. I must become stronger. I will one day kill them. I will avenge my village. No matter how long it takes, I swear that I will seek revenge." She could feel rage in her that she knew would not go away until she took the life of every last one of those murderers. Kageyu could understand her hatred and said that he would protect her while she trained.

"I know of someone who can teach you," he said. With that he scooped her up with his long tail onto his back and let her rest the whole way to the place where she would go to train.

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Well…… What did you think? I would appreciate a review. This was just an origin thing to build up the story. The next chapter will have Akiko ten years later when she's sixteen and more of Bankotsu! Hehehe 


	2. Training and News

Disclaimer: I own nothing InuYasha related. Only Akiko, Kageyu, and Furui Kensei.

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**Chapter Two: Training and News**

Akiko fell on her back. She was aching all over. She had just completed her training with Master Furui Kensei. After ten years she had perfected all of her ninja skills and learned to use so many different types of weapons. Master Kensei walked over to her and kicked her slightly.

"Not hurt are you?" he asked in a sarcastic sort of way. "I wouldn't want you to die. You are one of the few people to ever endure all of my training without dying."

"I'll live. I've got to. There is something that I still have to do before I die," she said in an exasperated tone.

Master Kensei smiled slightly; something he rarely did. His long white hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, fell over his shoulder as he looked down at her. He remembered how through all of his rigid training, Akiko never gave up even though she was a small child when she first came to see him. "Tell me," he said after she had sat up and wiped off some of the blood that ran down her cheek. "Why did you come here?"

She looked at him and he could tell that her reason was filled with pain and sorrow. "I needed to avenge my village," she said after thinking about it for a while. "Now that I've become strong enough, I can finally achieve my goal."

Master Kensei thought about Akiko's answer for a moment. "I see…" is all he said. "Who is it that you wish to seek your revenge upon?"

Akiko's saddened look turned into a glare. "The Shichinitnai," she said with anger. "I will be sure to kill all seven of them."

Master Kensei gave her a grieved look and said, "Akiko, I'm afraid you have worked so hard for no reason. The Shichinintai was captured and beheaded only a short time after you came here."

Akiko stared in disbelief for a moment. "They are dead?" she asked. When he nodded, she stood up and looked as if she was about to cry. "You mean I went through all of this for nothing? I forced myself to live, only to find out that I have no purpose?"

Master Kensei hit her hard enough to make a large red mark on her face, which would turn into a bruise. "How dare you say that in my presence! You will use your ninja skills to do many things. You could a great assassin! Your life matters greatly. Just because you can't get revenge, it doesn't mean that your life has no meaning."

Akiko didn't say anything. She looked at the ground in shame. "I'm sorry, Master," she said. "I _will_ become an assassin and the best one there is too."

After a couple of days, Akiko had already been hired to kill the lord of a castle. She sat by the fire at her campsite, Kageyu sound asleep next to her. He had said that he didn't think that she should be a hired killer when she herself had her life ruined by people who killed for money. She told him that she would not slaughter an entire village with children and families living in it. She would only kill lords or shogun that probably killed a lot of people themselves. 'I've never actually killed anyone before,' Akiko thought. 'I hope I don't get too afraid to do it when I'm about to do it. …Of course I won't be! I'm an assassin now and I'll never feel regret about anything ever again!' She sighed and lied down watching as the fire burned down. 'Better get some sleep. I may have a big battle tomorrow.' She closed her eyes and let sleep take hold of her.

Akiko awoke to Kageyu breathing on her. She opened her eyes and saw his right in front her. She jumped up. "What!"

He sat down. "It's 10 a.m. Don't you have someone to murder today?" (I realize that there weren't clocks in medieval Japan, but just bear with me here, people)

"Will you quit trying to make me sound like I'm some horrible murderer? I'm not _that _bad of a person just because I'm going to kill people."

Kageyu sighed and looked at her disapprovingly. "So, what's this lord's name anyway?"

"I was told that his name was Hitomi Kagewaki. They said that there have been mysterious deaths and they think that he might be a demon."

"You're going to fight someone who may be a demon? What if he is and is too strong for you?" Kageyu asked worriedly.

Akiko smirked and said, "Well… that's why you're here." Kageyu didn't argue, but didn't seem too happy about it either.

Kageyu decided not to come with her, but come if he thought that she was in trouble. Akiko came to the castle where Lord Kagewaki was said to be living. There was a thick miasma around the castle. Akiko had a hard time getting through it all. Once she got into the castle she saw skeletons of guards and servants lying on the floor. She walked passed them. Using her ninja skills to creep silently through the castle, prepared to attack anyone who was to get in her way. She walked outside to the where the miasma wasn't hardly strong at all. It was foggy but at least she could breathe. She crept along so she wouldn't make a sound. She stopped dead when she heard footsteps. Akiko grasped her sword, Dohanone. It was made from the fang of Ryuukotsusei. It contained the power to cut through almost anything. Akiko took out Dohanone and prepared to kill whoever it was who was approaching her.

"Hey, Naraku! Is that you?" Akiko heard a man's voice say. She lunged at him and brought the blade of Dohanone to his throat. Before it could cut, the man stopped it by grabbing her wrist. "And you are?" he asked when he saw that the girl obviously wasn't Naraku.

Akiko finally got a good look at the man. She recognized him immediately. It was the man who killed her father. The leader of the Shichinintai.

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I know that there has been a lot of history here, but I wanted to build up the story of Akiko. I promise that the next chapter will actually contain the Shichinintai. 


	3. Bankotsu and Jakotsu

Disclaimer: I do not own anything InuYasha related. All of the characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

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**Chapter Three: Bankotsu and Jakotsu**

"You…" Akiko mumbled in disbelief. "I thought that you were dead!" she said accusingly at him.

"Well, I was brought back to life. Not that it is any of your business," he said. "By the way, who are you?"

"Brought back to life? Well it doesn't matter. I'm going to kill you now anyway." Akiko said angrily, not paying attention to his question.

He didn't seem worried at all. "You? Kill _me_? I'd like to see you try!" He brought his weapon that he used to kill Akiko's father and prepared to fight her. Akiko attacked first with her Dohanone. He easily blocked it, but the strength of Ryuukotsusei's fang did affect him some. She thrust the sword at his throat, but he managed to block again.

'That sword is so large, it probably is hard to move it quickly,' Akiko thought. She moved as fast as she could to get around the huge weapon. Unfortunately, he was faster than she thought. He managed to block every single one of her blows. Akiko was no getting very frustrated. She was attacking with all of her skill and yet he didn't even seem tired yet. She quickly put Dohanone away and took out some of her throwing stars. She threw them at him as fast as she could. He managed to block all but two of them. One just barely missed his neck. The other hit his arm. It cut a slice in his sleeve and blood dripped from it.

"Damn it! What the Hell is your problem? Why are you trying to kill me?" said the man, now seeming to get angry.

"You killed my father. And you're the leader of the Shichinintai! It is your fault that my entire family is dead!" Akiko said, fighting back tears. "You will pay for what you have done!" This time she threw two throwing knives at him. He wasn't prepared this time and two knives hit him. One stuck in his left shoulder and the other stuck right above his heart. He winced, but pulled both of the bloody knives out.

"That is it! I'm tired of you." He swung his weapon at her and just barely missed her neck.

'That was close,' she thought. As Akiko bent down to avoid getting her head chopped off, she pulled out Dohanone again and came right up to his chest. She was about a centimeter away from his heart when a blade knocked hers out of the way.

"Who is _she_?" The new person said with disgust as he said 'she'.

"I don't know. She wants to kill me because I killed someone or something…" said the leader of the Shichinintai.

The second man gave her a disgusted but amused look. "Filth thinking that they are even worthy to fight us! Pitiful isn't it Bankotsu no Aniki?"

"Well, I don't know, Jakotsu," said Bankotsu. "She came pretty close to killing me. She probably would have if you didn't come."

Jakotsu scrunched his face up like he smelled something foul. "So…?" he asked.

"Both of you, I hope you are prepared to die because I _will _get revenge for my family!" Akiko yelled at both of them. They both just stared at her.

Bankotsu scratched his head and said, "Who was it that we killed? Somebody's father from a village is a bit vague for us."

"The village that was in the Valley of Ryuukotsusei! You know, the one with a huge dragon pinned to a cliff!"

They both seemed like they needed to think about it for a moment. "Oh! I remember that!" Jakotsu said.

"Me too," Bankotsu said deep in thought. "I remember that that was the last village we killed off before those damned shogun tortured us." Jakotsu nodded.

"Enough! I will die to avenge them," Akiko said and tried to attack them both. However, as she knew this was coming, they both attacked her back. Bankotsu didn't hit her with his Banryuu though. He punched her right on the cheek where Master Kensei had already hit her, which made it hurt even worse. Jakotsu took out his sword and was nearly about to cut it though her when Bankotsu stopped him.

"I was thinking," he said. "She's pretty tough. Not many people ever stand up to us. And even fewer ever get that close to killing me…"

Jakotsu sighed and gave Bankotsu a fearful look. "Please don't tell me that you're thinking what I think you're thinking!" Bankotsu looked at him guiltily. "But we cannot have _filth _associated with us!"

"She may end up being really useful to us. Judging by the way she's dressed, I'd say she's a ninja. We could use someone like that around. Plus we could always use someone to do the cooking and all that other stuff."

Jakotsu sighed again in disapproval, but he knew that he could not argue with Bankotsu. He pouted and said, "whatever," as he walked away.

Akiko turned her glare to Bankotsu. "Surely you are not thinking that after I swore revenge upon you and the rest of the Shichinintai, that I would willingly join you?"

Bankotsu stared at her with an amused look on his face. "Why not? We're really strong. No one can defeat us. And we make lots of money."

'What is with this guy?' she thought. '…Actually… If I _did _join I could get inside information about all of them. There's no way I could take on all seven of them at once. Besides, I could probably easily kill them in their sleep…' She pretended like she needed time to actually consider it. "I'll join, but I will not tolerate being forced to do all the cooking or being treated like I'm weak because I'm a girl."

Bankotsu didn't seem too concerned with meeting her demands. "Well don't think anyone is going to go easy on you because you're a girl. And let me warn you of everything before you meet everyone."

"Warn me?" she repeated.

"Yeah. Like how you might not want to be alone with Jakotsu; he tends to like to sadistically kill women. Suikotsu you also need to look out for. He looses his temper sometimes and will try to kill people. Don't worry though; it's mostly children that he likes to kill. Oh yeah! And Mukotsu. He is a bit self-conscious about the way he looks. So try not to stare or say anything. Another waning about Mukotsu, he may try to rape you. Just hit him or something. He'll take a hint eventually. Kyoukotsu. You should be okay with him. Although he does tend to eat unusual things so you might want to watch out for that. Ginkotsu probably won't bother you. He usually just does whatever Renkotsu tells him to do. I almost forgot about Renkotsu! He is the traitorous one. He wants nothing more than for me to die so he can be Second in Command. Be careful because he'll probably kill whomever it takes too.

Akiko listened in silence as Bankotsu told her all of the warnings and things that she needed to know. As the list went on, she couldn't believe some of the things he was warning her about like how Kyoukotsu ate demons. And how Jakotsu was in love with some hanyou called InuYasha. That wasn't so surprising until he referred to InuYasha as "him". "Jakotsu _is _a guy isn't he?" she asked, thinking about how Jakotsu was wearing a purple yukata and makeup.

"Yeah. He just so happens to like guys and hate women. Why? Something wrong with that," Bankotsu said to defend his best friends honor. When Akiko replied no, he continued to tell her about what she'd have to do being one of Shichinintai. "You have to be able to kill people villages at a time. You'll also have to split the money with us. Since you're new, you won't be getting very much at first."

Bankotsu and Akiko had reached their final agreement by the time they had gotten to wherever it was that Bankotsu needed to go. It was somewhere in the castle. That was when Akiko remembered that she was there to kill Lord Kagewaki. "Do you know if Kagewaki Hitomi lives in this castle?" she asked Bankotsu.

He scratched his head for a moment. "Hmm… I think only Naraku and his incarnations live in this castle. "Wait a minute! I think I once heard someone call him Lord Kagewaki when he still had vassals. Maybe this person you're looking for is Naraku."

"The person who I'm looking for was suspected to be a demon."

"Well, Naraku's a demon. It probably is him you're looking for. "…Why do you want to find Naraku anyway, uh…," he said, stopping. "What _is _your name anyway? I'm Bankotsu."

"Akiko," she said flatly. And I'm looking for Naraku because I was sent to kill him."

"Kill him?" he repeated. "Good luck with that. He is such a coward, I hardly ever even see him. He always sends Kanna or Kohaku or someone like that. That's why I was so surprised when I thought that you were him."

"Who are Kanna and Kohaku?" she asked, not really caring, just out of curiosity. The name Kohaku sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before.

"Kanna is one of Naraku's incarnations. The first one to be exact. Kohaku I don't know too much about. All I know is that he's dead like the Shichinintai and Naraku uses him to do his evil bidding. The odd thing is, is that they are both only children. I don't think that Naraku really likes to get his hands dirty. So far I've only seen him use other people. I, being one of them, in fact."

Akiko somehow forgot that she was enemies with Bankotsu and that her life has been devoted to killing him and his friends. He seemed so nice and not at all like an evil, brutal killer. She couldn't help staring at him. He had such lovely long hair, deep bluish eyes, and he was so handsome. When he looked over at her she quickly turned her head. She thought that he didn't see her staring, but she saw him smirk slightly.

Bankotsu slid open a door. Inside was a young girl. There was something unsettling about her. She had cold, black eyes. She wore a pure white kimono, which matched the white flowers in her hair. Her hair was just as white and she was so pale that she looked ghostly. She held a mirror in her hands. The mirror was glowing and there were white lights moving inside of it. It was so foggy with, what looked like to Akiko to be souls, that Akiko couldn't even see her reflection. The ghost-like girl spoke in such a calm, quiet, and childlike tone that it sounded eerie. "Bankotsu, Naraku has told me to give you a message. You are to kill InuYasha." With that, the strange girl disappeared into the shadows.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Bankotsu said. "I've wanted to kill that hanyou for ages!"

Akiko remembered what Bankotsu had said about how Jakotsu was in love with the hanyou InuYasha. "Won't Jakotsu be mad if you kill him?" she asked.

"He did say that he wanted to be the one to kill him, but I'm sure he understands how much I hate him and won't mind when it is me who kills that damn InuYasha."

'Not really what I meant, but wither way I guess Bankotsu doesn't care…' Akiko thought. '

"Are you coming to help us kill InuYasha and the rest of his bitchy little friends?"

"I guess," Akiko said with a shrug.

"Good. Let's go and let you meet everyone first," Bankotsu said pulling her by the wrist off where Jakotsu had gone.

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Authors Note: I hope you review. So far I have none! I'm updating and hopefully someone will read. I'll only do one more chapter and if still I have no reviews, then I will cease to write. But anyway, see you when chapter four is up! 


	4. Meeting New Allies

Disclaimer: No, I still don't own any of the Shichinintai except for Akiko… and Kageyu.

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**Chapter Four: Meeting New Allies**

After walking for a few about fifteen minutes, Akiko and Bankotsu reached Jakotsu. He was sitting on a rock, daydreaming about something.

"Aniki!" he called as Bankotsu approached. "What took you so long?" he gave Bankotsu a slightly bitter look.

Bankotsu glanced over at Akiko. "I was warning her about some of things not to do to the rest of our brothers."

Jakotsu gave her a dirty glare, and continued walking next to Bankotsu. He kept looking over at Akiko like he expected she was up to something.

_'Why does he keep looking over at me?' _Akiko thought. _'He couldn't possibly know my plan…'_

As the three walked, there was an uncomfortable silence between them. Jakotsu kept glaring, and Bankotsu seemed amused by it. "Hey!" Bankotsu suddenly shouted as his pace quickened. Jakotsu didn't say anything, but followed.

Akiko saw a group of people sitting in the forest. The first one she spotted looked like a giant. He had gray-ish-green skin and his eyes were bloodshot. The next one she spotted was also pretty big. He looked like he was half man and half machine. One side of his face, his mouth, and parts of his body were metal. He had some weird type of weapons attached to himself that Akiko didn't recognize. There was another man with a similar weapon. He didn't look too odd. He had purple markings on his face. The next person she saw was a short old man. He wore a white veil over his mouth and one over his head. Last, there was a man with hair down to his shoulders. Unlike the others, he did not have markings on his face. He didn't really look mean like the rest either. However, judging by the metal claws in his gloves and the armor he wore, she figured he must have been Suikotsu. All of these people looked just the same as they did the last time she saw them. It brought back such painful memories to see them. By Bankotsu's description, she could tell who was who.

"Who the Hell's she?" Renkotsu asked when he caught sight of Akiko.

"Aniki says that _she _is the new member of the Shichinintai," Jakotsu said with disgust, emphasizing "she".

Everyone looked to Bankotsu. "What?" he asked. "I think she'll be really useful. I just fought her. She's pretty good. Her name is Akiko," he added on the end.

Mukotsu laughed which caused everyone to bring their attention to him. "I think that she'll be a wonderful addition to the Shichinintai. Just think of what she can do for us," he said leering at her. Akiko wasn't entirely thrilled by this comment.

"Mukotsu," Bankotsu interrupted him, "she's here for fighting reasons only."

Mukotsu looked up at him saddened. "I wasn't suggesting that she be here for any other reason," he said innocently with a smirk. Akiko decided that it would probably be best to keep a far distance from him.

Renkotsu spoke again, this time angrier. "God damn it, Bankotsu. We don't need any new members!"

"Like I said, she'll come in handy for when we need her," Bankotsu said not really talking to anyone in particular. They all seemed to understand what he meant tough. Everyone except Akiko that is.

The rest of the day went very long. All of the Shichinintai except Bankotsu kept staring at her like they didn't want her there. Mukotsu however didn't seem quite as upset as the others.

Akiko walked up to Bankotsu when he had gotten away from the rest of the Shichinintai. "A friend of mine is probably wondering where I am…" she began.

"The dragon?" Bankotsu asked to Akiko's surprise.

"Yeah. How did you know?" she asked him.

"He's been following us for a long time now. I was just going to kill him, but I thought he might be a friend of yours."

Akiko nodded. "Yes. His name is Kageyu."

"I suppose he can stay with us too. I have a feeling he's not going to be too welcomed in though. Oh well. They'll probably like him more than they like you."

Akiko glared at him. _'I wonder how long it will take before I will be able to kill them…?' _she thought. _'Although, it _is _nice of him to let me stay with them. And he so far is the only one who's been nice to me.' _

Her thoughts were interrupted by Kageyu jumping out and pouncing on her. "You're okay, Akiko! I wouldn't have followed, but I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to you."

"It's okay, Kageyu. I am a member of the Shichinintai. Do you want to stay with me?"

"Like you had to ask!" he said happily and licked Bankotsu's face. Bankotsu laughed.

As Bankotsu walked back ahead of them Akiko whispered sarcastically, "Geez, Kageyu. Don't be _too _sad about it."

"I thought that you'd be happy. You'll be able to get revenge now."

"I am. But don't get too friendly with them. You never know if they're up to the same thing. What if they're letting me join because they want to kill me because they didn't ten years ago?"

Kageyu sighed. "I doubt that _that's_their biggest concern at the moment. They still haven't even gotten revenge upon the people who killed them yet."

Akiko considered this. _'I suppose they wouldn't go through all that for some girl they left alive a decade ago.'_

By the time Akiko and Kageyu reached back to where the Shichinintai were, Bankotsu had sat down overlooking a cliff. He sat with a piece of paper in his lap. He was about to write a letter. He seemed to be in deep thought. "Hmmm…" he muttered as he began to write. Akiko couldn't see what it said, but he crumpled it up and threw it on the ground next to him.

"He's writing a threatening letter to those bastards who executed us," Suikotsu explained.

"Oh yeah!" Bankotsu said suddenly looking up. "Naraku said to attack InuYasha and his group again. I'll be here writing my letter. You don't need me right now…"

"INUYASHA?" Jakotsu asked, his face lighting up. "What are we waiting for? Aniki said to get going!" Jakotsu had already started out after this "InuYasha" guy.

"Who is InuYasha?" Akiko asked Suikotsu as they started out after Jakotsu.

"InuYasha is some stupid hanyou who Naraku hates. He's been sending us to attack him ever since we were resurrected. …And Jakotsu is in love with him…"

Akiko recalled hearing that the son of InuTaisho was a hanyou and the name seemed befitting. "Is InuYasha half dog demon?"

"Yeah. Have you ever heard of him?"

Akiko shook her head. "No, I just sort of guessed…" _'Because of InuYasha's father, Ryuukotsusei couldn't protect my village and so the Shichinintai could attack. How better for me to get revenge than for my father's daughter to take the life of the son of the person whose father led to the death of him. Wait. What? Oh well. I'll take my anger out on InuYasha anyways. I do need practice killing.'_

"What's with you? Not scared are you?" Renkotsu asked, noticing the serious look on Akiko's face. "You better not get in the way or slow us down." He added.

Akiko didn't like his attitude toward her, but didn't say anything. _'Just remember that I need their trust,' _she thought to keep herself from telling Renkotsu what she really thought.

Akiko wasn't really paying attention to where they were going. She didn't even realize that they had approached InuYasha until Jakotsu called out to him.

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Author's Note: Thanks to those who rated. I would have updated sooner, but no one even rated until not too long ago. I'd have finished this long before, but I wasn't in a writing mood. By the way, I've changed my plot ideas quite a few times so if I write something you don't get or if I repeated something, let me know so I can fix it. I know that I'm not following the chain of events exactly how they happened, but just try to keep up where I'm at in the story.  Prepare for a really violent InuYasha vs. Shichinitnai battle next chapter. 


	5. Battles and Attacks

**Chapter Five: Battles and Attacks**

Akiko saw a young guy standing in front of them. He wore a red kimono with a sword and some odd looking type of necklace that Akiko had never seen before. He had long, silver hair and the same colored dog-ears. He also had amber eyes.

'_I assume that's InuYasha. He doesn't look so tough. This shouldn't be very hard,' _Akiko thought. Suddenly, a girl wearing weird clothing came up to him.

"The Shichinintai!" she gasped. She pulled out an arrow for the bow she was carrying. Another girl came up to them. She was dressed like she probably killed demons for a living or something. She had a sword and a huge boomerang. They were joined by a young monk, a kitsune and a cat demon.

The girl with the arrows, shot one, but missed terribly. For some reason that girl reminded Akiko of someone…

Then the girl with the boomerang threw it. Kyoukotsu stopped it with his hands and threw it back at her. It hit her directly in the stomach and she fell to the ground, unconscious. Blood dripped out of her mouth.

The oddly dressed girl gasped and bent down beside her. "Sango! Are you okay, Sango?"

Then the monk who wore prayer beads on his hand took them off and yelled "Wind Tunnel!" Something like a black hole came from his hand, sucking in everything around them. Ginkotsu shot his jagged blades directly at the hole in his hand. It caused the sides of the hole to rip open some. The monk quickly closed up his.

"Miroku!" the same girl called; Ginkotsu made a "Gesh" sound.

Fire surrounded the little cat demon. When the flames dissipated, she had large fangs and was much bigger. She growled fiercely and ran to attack. Mukotsu sprayed some kind of brownish red poison at her and she fell to the ground, twitching.

Once again the girl ran over to help her fallen friend. "Kirara!" she yelled.

The small kitsune ran over to help the three. He started to cry some as Miroku's Wind Tunnel was still sucking in small amounts of air, even with the prayer beads over it as the blood from Ginkotsu's cuts ran down his wrist.

Meanwhile, Sango began to come out of her unconscious state. She sat up and tried to speak. As she did, more blood came from her mouth. She made a painful gasping sound and fell back down.

The cat demon Kirara lie twitching on the ground, poisoned by Mukotsu.

Now InuYasha had become mad. "You filthy bastards," he yelled. "You are going to pay for this!" With that he unsheathed his sword. Despite how small of a sheath it was, the blade turned out to be huge and fang-like. "Tetsusaiga!" he yelled as he pulled it out. Then he yelled "Wind Scar!" and a flash of light came at the Shichinintai.

Akiko quickly pulled out Dohanone and said, "Reihou Nami." As she did, a blue flash of light shot out from her sword. It hit InuYasha's Wind Scar and made a huge explosion of Demonic Energy as the two attacks of the fang swords collided.

"What the hell is _that_?" InuYasha said as the aura died down. "And who are _you, _anyway?" InuYasha asked Akiko, as he had never seen her before. "Are you another one of the Shichinintai?"

Akiko saw the annoyed looks of the rest of the Shichinintai, but nodded slightly. "Yes, I am," she said.

InuYasha gave her disgusted look. "Well then you are going to die along with the rest of them. Go ahead and attack me with your sword again. Try using that attack you just did."

Akiko didn't like the sound of that. _'Why would he want me to attack him?' _she wondered. _'Oh well, it doesn't matter. There's no way his attacks can be stronger than Dohanone's. Even if it is a fang sword like mine.' _

"Well?" InuYasha asked impatiently.

"Reihou Nami!" she yelled, sending out another wave of blue demonic energy.

InuYasha prepared his sword and yelled, "Backlash Wave!" Swirling wind blew Akiko's attack Reihou Nami back at the Shichinintai. They all prepared to block it when Akiko said, "Toku no zana Kiba." InuYasha's Backlash Wave, which had sent her Reihou Nami back to them, was now being redirected towards InuYasha again as Toku no zana Kiba repelled it. The full power of the Reihou Nami hit InuYasha. Many deep gashes hit allover his body. Each one gushed blood from the wound.

By now, InuYasha was almost unconscious as well. His bright amber eyes seemed darker and dead-like as he passed out completely.

"INUYASHA!" the girl and kitsune yelled together. They ran over to him. Now the girl got angry. Tears filled up in her eyes. "You won't get away with that!" She aimed another arrow at the Shichinintai. It was mostly aimed at Akiko.

"Akiko," Renkotsu said to her.

"Yes?"

"Do you think you have an attack that can repel the Sacred Arrow?"

"Sacred Arrow?" _'I thought only Lady Kikyo could shoot the Sacred Arrow. Wait! That is where she looks familiar. She looks just like Kikyo. Or at least from the paintings I've seen of her. But that couldn't be. She was said to have died over 50 years ago.'_

"Yes, Sacred Arrow," Renkotsu said interrupting her thoughts. "Do you?"

"Um. I think I might…" Akiko replied, thinking of one of Dohanone's attacks, which would be most likely to defend against the Sacred Arrow.

"Well are you going to use it or not because Kagome is about to shoot her arrow," Suikotsu informed her.

Akiko thought for a moment, _'who? Oh!'_ The oddly dressed girl now confirmed as Kagome had shot her arrow. The arrow was engulfed in Lady Kikyo's Sacred Power.

"Hyakuhei Kurumu," Akiko said as the arrow came towards her. The arrow hit the blade of Dohanone. As it did, the pure, pink light collided with the deep red evil light of Hyakurei Kurumu. Surprisingly for Kagome, The aura around her arrow left along with the aura around Akiko's sword.

"What?" Kagome shrieked. "It didn't work!" She now had a terrified look on her face as all of the Shichinintai approached her.

Before they got to her the kitsune yelled, "Fox Fire! Smashing Top!" A blue flame almost hit the Shichinintai, but Renkotsu took a drink out of his flask and blew fire at the Fox Fire, burning Shippo. His Top was still about to hit them when Jakotsu took Jakotsutou and slashed at it. The top stopped spinning and reduced down to a normal size.

Shippo was now unconscious with Sango and InuYasha.

"Hold it right there!" Miroku said. He tried opening his Wind Tunnel again, but out of nowhere came large bees, which flew towards it. Miroku closed his Wind Tunnel immediately.

Ginkotsu took an axe out from behind his back and hit Miroku down his shoulder with it. Blood shot up from his wound. He yelled in pain and put his hand over his wound to try and stop the blood, which was already forming a puddle beneath him.

As they got closer Mukotsu smirked. "Kagome my dear! How have you been? I'm still looking forward to when we can get married." He laughed and tried to hide his evil grin behind his veil.

Everyone prepared for the final attack to completely finish of InuYasha and all of his friends when a woman suddenly burst out of the wind. "Yo." She said.

"Oh great. It's that bitch Kagura," Jakotsu said in a sarcastic joy, scrunching up his face.

"Who is she?" Akiko asked.

"She's an incarnation like Kanna," he told her. "Except she annoys me," he added on.

Kagura gave him a look that said that she felt the same about him.

'_Jakotsu doesn't like her? Go figure…' _Akiko thought, bemused at her own dislike for Jakotsu already.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked her.

She cleared her throat and replied, "Naraku has decided that he is not ready for InuYasha and all of his stupid little friends to die yet." Without another word, she pulled a feather out of her hair and flew away on it.

"'Not ready for them to die yet?'" Renkotsu shouted angrily. "We've been trying to kill them for ages and have never succeeded. And now that we have almost done it, he wants us to let them live? What the hell is wrong with him?"

A look of relief crossed Kagome's face.

"It doesn't matter," Suikotsu said calmly. "Now that we have Akiko, we can do it again when Naraku really wants them dead. We didn't even have Bankotsu's help for this. Next time when we do, we'll be invincible."

Jakotsu, Renkotsu, Mukotsu, Ginkotsu, and Kyoukotsu didn't seem too thrilled about it, but didn't say anything more.

As they went back to where Bankotsu was staying, Akiko found herself deep in thought again. _'Well Suikotsu just kind of gave me a compliment. And Bankotsu already trusts me. That's two down, five to go. I think Jakotsu will probably be the hardest. I just have to make sure I get on their good side. If I can manage to kill InuYasha or one of his friends, they'll probably trust me more. But what is it with them listening so much to Naraku? Oh well. Not bad for my first day. I could really use something to eat right now though…'_

It was like he read her mind for when they got back, Bankotsu asked, "Is anybody else hungry? I want something to eat."

They all agreed and Renkotsu had gone to make dinner with Suikotsu as Kyoukotsu went off to go hunt for something to eat.

During dinner, Bankotsu was told about what kind of attacks her sword had.

"Wow, you are an even better member than I thought you would be. Your first day and you already kicked our arch nemesis' ass. Good one," he said smiling cheerfully. Kageyu, who had been with him, also congratulated her.

To Akiko's utter disgust found herself blushing at Bankotsu compliment. "Thanks…" she muttered.

And to make matters worse she could have sworn that Jakotsu saw for he gave her an evil glare, watching every move she made for the rest of the night.

* * *

Author's Note: Wow, this chapter ended up being four pages long in Microsoft Word. And it didn't even contain much of Bankotsu! By the way, did anyone notice I said "rate" last chapter? lol. That's what happens when you write too much on Quizilla. C'est la vie… But please _review_. 


	6. Falling in Love?

**Chapter six: Falling in Love?**

Akiko had just finished taking a bath in the hot spring. The Shichinintai were to attack a castle the next day and she wanted to be well rested for the fight. She at off by herself, combing out her wet, black hair, which just reached below her butt.

_'I wonder if Kageyu is getting along well enough with them,' _Akiko thought somewhat angrily as she watched the red dragon laughing it up with everyone. _'Wait a minute. Where did Jakotsu go?'_

"Something wrong?" she heard Jakotsu's familiar feminine voice say.

"No, why do you ask"?

Jakotsu plopped down in front of her and looked at her with contempt. "Stay away from Bankotsu," he said bluntly. "There's no way I'm loosing him to some woman!"

"Well, there is nothing you need to worry about. I have no interest in Bankotsu."

Jakotsu gave her one last look of hatred and got up. But he didn't go back to where everyone else was sitting.

_'Strange…Oh well, it doesn't matter. It's not like I was lying. I don't like Bankotsu at all. I hate him and will soon get my revenge,' _she convinced herself before putting her comb away and letting her hair finish drying.

"Hey, Akiko! Come join us!" Bankotsu called over to her, noticing her sitting by herself under a tree.

"No thanks," she told him. Even though she hated to admit it, she kind of _did _want to go talk with them, but it was too late. She had already said no and if she went over now, she would loose her pride.

"Ah, come on!" Suikotsu called to her.

_'I can't! I already said I didn't want to. If I go over there it will diminish my "not wanting to like them" attitude.' _

Realizing this plan was a mistake from the start and that they probably wouldn't care if she said "no thanks" but then came over anyway, she replied softly, "fine".

'Damn my stupid weird little quirks to Hell! Why do I have to be so odd when it comes to changing my mind about stuff like this? Because I said I didn't want to go talk to them and now I'm going anyway. It's like I'm being proven wrong!' she thought, answering her own question.

The moment she sat down with them by the fire, she realized it would have been better to stay over by herself. For now, not only was she proven wrong, but also all of them but Jakotsu were staring at her. She couldn't think of anything to say to them.

Akiko was glad Kageyu was there now when he finally said, "We were just talking about how we are going to kill everyone tomorrow. Are you going to use any of your ninja weapons?"

Akiko thought it might have been better sitting in silence. "Um. Yeah…"

"What all do you have?" Renkotsu asked her, clearly trying to make her feel uncomfortable.

"Chigiriki, poison darts, fukiya, hoko, kakute, kama, neko-te, kyoketsu-shogei, shobo, shuriken, tanto, a tessen (with a blade), tetsu-bishi, kunai, and of course, Dohanone."

They all stared at her for a moment. "Those are all the different types of weapons you have?" Mukotsu asked astounded, looking over at the stash of weapons she had being looked after by Ginkotsu. "How did you learn to use all of them?"

"There's actually some more. I've been meaning to try and learn how to use an ono."

Bankotsu's face lit up at the sound of that. "Really? That's kind of what my Banryuu is! I can help teach you if you want."

"I don't know…" she said thinking through the advantages this could have. 'If he teaches me, I could probably learn how to weaken him with his own type of weapon,'

"Come on, it'll be fun. We can hack people up together!"

She smiled slightly. "Sure."

Akiko felt someone nudging her on the shoulder. She deep brown, almost black, eyes to see Bankotsu looking down at her. It was then that she realized she was sleeping against him.

"Sorry," she said quickly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"It's okay," he said shrugging.

It didn't help that once again, everyone was staring at her. 'Jeez, they shouldn't have kept me up half the night anyway.'

"Bankotsu?" she said after realizing Jakotsu wasn't there

"Hmm?"

"Did Jakotsu ever come back last night?"

"Yeah, he came back a little while after you fell asleep. What did you two say to each other by the tree? I think he hates you more than any other woman he's met."

'Shit. Jakotsu must have seen me sleeping next to Bankotsu. Well it's not like I meant to! Like I said, they kept me up practically the whole night talking and-' her thoughts suddenly raced to something else. 'Today's the day I have to actually start killing people.'

Akiko's stomach began to feel queasy. And the now present Jakotsu's evil glares were not helping her feel better.

"Don't worry, Akiko," Kageyu whispered to her. "Remember how much hatred you felt for the Shichinintai when they first attacked the village? Just remember that hatred and use it to kill. Believe me, the times I've had to kill someone, it worked."

"Right. Thank you, Kageyu," she said quietly.

She was suddenly becoming more aware of how close they were getting. She could already see the castle. Ginkotsu's tank claws were making loud clank sounds in the road. Kyoukotsu stomped loudly. Renkotsu, Mukotsu, and Suikotsu were riding on Ginkotsu while Akiko, Jakotsu, and Bankotsu walked.

"Ready?" Bankotsu asked everyone as the castle was in plain sight now.

Ginkotsu and Renkotsu were shooting guns off at the front line of people defending the castle. Seeing the people being blown up and burned made Akiko remember them doing that at her village.

Soon Suikotsu was stabbing at people. Blood poring from their mouths as he stabbed his claws into their necks and slashed at their chests. He stuck his claws into someone's stomach, spilling their intestines as he ripped them out.

Mukotsu shot poison from his container. The flesh of the residents of the castle who were trapped skin began to bubble and they screamed. Grabbing their faces they ripped off the skin, which was already falling off.

Kyoukotsu was breaking peoples' limbs and biting off their body parts.

Jakotsu laughed evilly and drew Jakotsutou. The snake-like sword slashed at some of the people. Blood splattered from them. Their innards came gushing out of the huge cuts across them. He lopped of limbs, and people fell to the ground screaming. Akiko watched for a moment as he became even more sadistic than when he killed her mother.

Bankotsu laughed, obviously thinking the same thing. "Hey, Jakotsu! You seem even more sadistic than usual today."

"Just venting some anger, Aniki," he replied. After Bankotsu looked away, Jakotsu gave Akiko a filthy glare and continued to perform even more gory attacks onto the innocent residents of the castle.

"Come on," Bankotsu said, pulling Akiko towards the main part of the castle. "They'll take care of them. We need to go kill the Lord of the castle."

She nodded, fighting her way though some of the guards trying to attack her. She closed her eyes and brought down Dohanone to the throat of the person attacking her. When she opened her eyes, she saw his lifeless body fall to the ground. Blood streaming from a deep gash directly in his neck.

Surprisingly, she didn't feel bad. She didn't really feel anything. And if it was something, it was… happiness?

As more guards came to attack her, she kept her eyes open this time and cut across their chests. Blood squirted out and they all fell. She even felt herself smile this time.

Bankotsu was smirking. "Looks like you're a better addition to the Shichinintai than I thought. I'd know that cute, sick little look anywhere. You're just like Jakotsu."

"What?" she asked, not really registering what this meant.

Bankotsu smiled again and got her to follow him to the inside of the castle. More guards were waiting there. He lifted Banryuu into the air and in one swoop, beheaded all of them. Akiko noticed that she was already bloody from when she killed. Now the blood from Bankotsu's victims sprayed on her too. This ordinarily would have bothered her, but for some reason, she found the sight of blood invigorating. Perhaps she was more like Jakotsu than she thought. So far, Akiko hadn't even thought of the hatred she felt for the Shichinintai, but still was enjoying the feeling of ending someone's life.

Despite how bad she felt for not being bothered by killing someone, she ran with Bankotsu killing everyone in her way.

Finally at the room where the Lord had been hiding, he sent even more guards on them. She didn't even have to think about it now; Akiko automatically cut through all of them and they fell to the floor, drenched in their own blood.

"P-please don't k-kill me!" said the lord, terrified. "I can p-pay you an-anything you-" But he couldn't finish his sentence as Bankotsu beheaded him.

Everyone was tending to their weapons or relaxing. Bankotsu, Jakotsu, and Akiko were sitting on the outside of the castle, drinking sake. Akiko was still getting used to the taste of it.

Jakotsu leaned against Bankotsu. "Aniki, are we going to sleep in the castle tonight?" he asked

"I suppose so," Bankotsu told him, taking a large gulp of sake, then refilling his cup.

"How many rooms are there?" Jakotsu said mischievously.

Bankotsu looked at him and asked kind of nervously, "Why?"

"Because! We can share a room!" Jakotsu replied excitedly. "Won't that be fun?"

Bankotsu smiled. "I dunno…" he said quietly and blushed, taking another large gulp, emptying the cup again.

As Bankotsu was distracted, Jakotsu looked over at Akiko and smiled smugly.

And for some reason Akiko found Bankotsu's reaction to make her angry. 'Stupid Jakotsu! It's not like I'm in love with Bankotsu or anything.' She spent the rest of their time drinking sake telling herself that she did not love Bankotsu. That she loathed him in fact. It was his fault her family was dead. And no matter what she felt for him, he was going to pay.

* * *

Author's Note: Gah! My back hurts. Please review. And if you do, I promise I'll try and write these chapters faster. 


	7. Seduction, Torture, and Death

So you know when you're reading this:

Kunoichi- female ninja

Tanto- a knife like sword that could be thrown or used to stab

Tessen- was a fan with an iron frame that was used to club people. Some, like Akiko's, have a sharp edge on the outside for cutting as well

Also, this chapter contains some pedophile references, so you are warned.

* * *

**Chapter seven: Seduction, Torture, and Death**

They had already slaughtered three more villages since Akiko first joined the Shichinintai. Akiko enjoyed killing more and more every time. It was in fact beginning to bother her. She noticed some of the things Jakotsu did. How sadistic he could actually be. And she noticed that Bankotsu was right; she was a lot like him. She was a lot like the entire Shichinintai. She enjoyed killing, it didn't bother her, and getting paid to do it made it even better.

Akiko had even started using her other weapons. She had to admit to herself that seeing someone getting their flesh ripped off, their eyes scratched out, stabbed to death and everything else she could do to them was quite exhilarating.

Bankotsu had been summoned to see Lord Fukitsu to kill off some of his enemies. When he got back he was smiling ear to ear. "It was such a good idea for me to get Akiko to join us!"

"Why's that?" asked Kyoukotsu, confused.

"Well, that lord wants to kill this one guy, but he wants something from inside his castle. According to Fukitsu, it is so valuable to them that he'll destroy it before he lets the him get it."

Still no one got his meaning. Mukotsu gave him a confused look. "So? What's that have to do with my lovely Akiko?"

"We need someone to- your lovely Akiko?" He laughed hard for moment, but then stopped when he saw the looks that she, Jakotsu, and Mukotsu were giving him. "Right. Well as I was saying, we need someone to sneak in, steal whatever it is, and then kill this guy. Daraku I believe Fukitsu said his name was. And even better, he likes pretty, young girls so it would be easy for her to get in."

"Huh?" Akiko suddenly said, not sure if it was from Bankotsu suggesting she had to sneak into a castle and get something from some lecher or that he referred to her as "pretty".

Jakotsu snorted. "And who do you mean by 'her', Aniki? Surly you can't mean-" he looked over at Akiko with a foul look, "_that_."

Renkotsu took Akiko's face in his hands and studied her. "I suppose it would work. I think she's pretty enough."

Ginkotsu, Suikotsu, and Kyoukotsu all agreed. Mukotsu laughed. "Of course my dear Akiko can seduce this Daraku."

"Ahem," Akiko interrupted. "I don't know if I will be able to do this. I'm not really the 'seducing' type."

"You're a kunoichi. I thought you people were _supposed_ to trick and deceive people," Jakotsu scoffed. "Some ninja you are."

She gave Jakotsu the filthiest look she could and he actually shut up. "Bankotsu, do I really have to?"

"Yep. But don't worry about it. It's not like you'll have to do anything. You can kill him long before."

"What if I can't figure out what I need to get and the only way to get it is to…"

Renkotsu smirked in an evil sort of way. "You won't. All you have to do is put on an act until you get him alone. That shouldn't be too hard.

Kunoichi carry weapons inside their clothes don't they? Once he is alone and if you still don't know what you need to get, then you can just torture it out of him."

This actually sounded like an all right plan to Akiko. "Very well. I will do it."

Akiko headed to the castle with everyone following her. She felt somewhat self-conscious of wearing merely a yukata. It had been ages since she wore anything besides her ninja outfit. However, it eased her anxiety knowing that she had a tanto and a tessen up her sleeve.

"We should stop here," Bankotsu told her as they grew nearer to the castle. "Someone is bound to spot Ginkotsu or Kyoukotsu if we go any farther."

"Okay. I'll be back when Daraku is dead and I have this treasure that he wants to keep so badly I guess."

"We'll still be around here to attack. If you aren't back by tomorrow night, we will make sure that you aren't hurt or anything. Remember, don't go falling in love with the person you are supposed to kill," he laughed.

She nodded. _'Why does that sound familiar?' _she asked herself sarcastically.

Akiko reached the front gate. "Umm… May I see Lord Daraku, please?"

The guard looked Akiko up and down. "You can't be the girl Lord Daraku called for. She is already here. And I don't think you could be the other one. They said she was younger…"

"He didn't tell you he called for another one? Oh, well I was told to come here," Akiko lied quickly to get in.

"Do you have the proof?"

"What?"

"You need that piece of paper that was given to you to get in. It's for security reasons."

_'Great. Do I kill this guard and just go in? No, they might find me suspicious. I'll just have to get rid of that other girl who is supposed to be coming and steal her piece of paper.' _

"Oh. I believe I left that somewhere. Let me go find it," she said and quickly ran off to find the girl.

Akiko searched frantically and almost stopped and began to make a new plan when she saw a girl approaching. She could immediately tell just by looking at her why she was going to the castle.

"Who are you?" she asked in a kind of fearful voice. Akiko wondered what she was afraid of. It's was not as if Akiko looked like some robber or thug.

_'I suppose I could understand why she is so afraid. She doesn't look like she could be more than 11 or 12. And I guess walking through the forest at night and suddenly seeing someone just standing there would be kind of scary.'_

"Hello. What's your name?" Akiko asked the young girl. For some reason she didn't really want to kill her.

"I'm Itami," said the girl.

"Itami, would you like me to do you a favor?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you give me that piece of paper saying you are to see Lord Daraku, I will take your place tonight."

She looked at her surprised that she not only knew where she was going, but that she was willing to go for her. "Why would you do that for me?"

"I just feel like it. So can I have it?" she asked rather quickly.

Itami nodded and gave her the paper. "How can I ever repay you for this?"

"It's no problem. Bye, Itami."

The little girl waved and smiled as Akiko went back towards the castle.

"Damn it!" Akiko said to herself. "All of these delays. I could have already killed him and gotten that whatever the hell it is I'm supposed to get already."

Finally, she reached the guard again. "Here. I have proof I was supposed to come here."

The guard studied it for a moment. "Fine. Come with me." And he led her through the castle to Lord Daraku's room.

When they got there, Lord Daraku was already forcing himself upon a young girl. This one looked older than Itami, but still younger than Akiko.

"Come on, Kunou, don't put up a fight. We both know that you'll give in so why bother trying to resist me."

Kunou sighed and stopped trying to struggle out of Daraku's grasp.

"By, the way, Kunou, where's your sister? I ordered for her to come see me too. How come she's not here yet?"

Kunou sighed sadly. "Itami had to do something before she came here. She shouldn't be too much longer now."

"Oh well, I guess for now only you will have to pleasure me," he said smiling in a disgusting way.

"Milord, here is the other girl," the guard interrupted.

Daraku finally noticed the two people standing in his doorway, watching him. At first he looked angry for the interruption, but once he got a glance at Akiko his ugly smile returned. "Leave us, Shuei. Come here, girl."

The guard bowed and left Akiko alone with Daraku and the still miserable looking Kunou. Akiko walked over to them and sat down.

"So," he said still smiling, "What is your name?"

Akiko panicked and thought of the first name that came to her head: her sister's. "My name is Myoko."

"Myoko," he repeated. "So why are you here, Myoko?"

"Itami was killed by a demon and so I was sent in her place," Akiko lied. She saw the shocked look of terror in Kunou's face.

"K-killed?" she asked

"Yes, and you are to return home, Kunou." Akiko thought it was for the best that Kunou didn't see someone being murdered. She remembered how it felt when she first saw it. Of course she was younger at the time and the people she saw die were the ones she loved. But still…

"Hold on!" Daraku interjected quickly. "I am paying her for tonight. She stays."

"I don't think it'll matter if she doesn't get paid because she hasn't really done anything yet."

Daraku gave her an angry look of defeat. "Fine. But only because cute little Itami is dead."

By now, Kunou was crying. She got up quickly and ran out the door.

"It doesn't matter. We can have more fun without her," Daraku said smiling in his sickest was yet.

Akiko smiled. _'Yes, it will be fun when I am torturing you to death, you bastard.'_

She pulled out her tessen slowly. Daraku just watched, enjoying how it was going so far. However, he was no longer enjoying it when she dug the blade into a pressure point in his chest.

He screamed out in pain and fell to the floor. Akiko made small, jagged cuts through all of the joints that caused the most pain. He whimpered. The pain was so horrible that he could not get up, call for his guards, or defend himself.

"You have something that Lord Fukitsu wants. Where is it and what is it?" she whispered to him.

He struggled to speak. "Go to Hell you bitch."

She sighed. "If you don't tell me, then I will have to actually torture you. I don't think you would like that, would you?"

His eyes grew in fear. "Fine, it is that jewel shard over there," he pointed to something wrapped in a cloth.

Akiko walked over to it and opened the cloth. And there inside was a small shard of the Shikon Jewel glowing pink. She studied it for shot time. "How do I know that this is really what I am supposed to bring Fukitsu?"

"Don't worry. It is. That is my most sacred treasure."

"I will take it to him. But know that if you are lying, I will return and make you suffer horribly. And if you try to run, I will hunt you down." Akiko said malevolently. It surprised even her how evil it sounded.

"Okay! That's not the treasure. It is actually the demon claw. It is kept in the basement of the castle."

Akiko smiled happily at finding a jewel shard and pocketed it. She walked over to Lord Daraku and shoved the blade of her tanto into his heart. She twisted it once and pulled it out. This time she avoided the stream of blood that poured out. After all, she had to go to the basement and steal this dragon claw that he spoke of.

Even being a master of stealth, it was relatively easy to steal the dragon claw. From what Akiko could tell it was some kind of spider like demon claw. She heard that they were supposedly used to kill demons. The venom of this type of spider demon had and even more toxic kind in their claws than in their fangs.

On her way back, Akiko saw Itami and Kunou walking. They both stopped when they saw her.

"It's her. She's the one who offered to take my place at the castle," Itami told her sister.

"Why did you say that she was dead?" Kunou asked her.

"I just wanted to help you get out of that place. I don't think you have to worry about having to go see that Lord Daraku ever again," she smiled, mostly at the thought of the guard Shuei finding his dead body.

Kunou and Itami gave her a kind of frightened look. Similar to the one Itami gave her the first time she saw her. They both thanked her once again and headed back home while she went to go see the Shichinintai.

"So, you're back, huh? That was quick," Bankotsu said as he saw Akiko coming toward him. "What's that?" he pointed to the long, green spiral claw in her hand.

"Demon claw. It's what Daraku was keeping from Fukitsu. Among other things," she added, pulling out the sacred jewel shard.

Everyone gleamed at it. "Here, Bankotsu. You want it, don't you?" she handed it to him, but he pushed her hand back.

"You are the one who snuck in there, put up with Daraku's bullshit, found out what the treasure was by torturing him, then killed him. I think you deserve to keep it."

"WHAT!" everyone else said, somewhere between angry and amazed that Bankotsu would let her keep the jewel shard for herself.

Kageyu walked up to her and looked at it. "I agree with Bankotsu. I think she should be allowed to keep it too."

That night they found an old, abandoned inn. It was fairly large and had nice rooms. It looked like someone had already driven everyone out of it and had stayed there quite a while back. So the Shichinintai decided to stay there for the night.

As Akiko lied on her futon, she began to think about death. _'Why do I feel so strange? It isn't as if killing bothers me anymore. So why do I have this weird empty feeling inside? _

_Everyone I care about has died. I know what it feels like to have someone you love leave your life forever, and yet I do it to other people. Do I really not feel bad about it? I mean I am pretty full of hatred and revenge. Maybe killing is my way to vent it. But I think I really _do _feel bad about it. _

_I wonder what death is like? I fear it myself, and yet I kill others. I can only imagine how horrible it must be to die. To leave this world and to never return… _

_But the Shichinintai were resurrected. They know what death is like. Maybe I could ask them. Would they mind if I bring up what death is like? Maybe they don't like to remember it. _

_I have to ask them. I cannot stop thinking about death. I can never get rid of this feeling unless I know.'_

She sighed. There was a feeling of loneliness and emptiness in her heart. She just wanted someone to talk to right now. Akiko debated whether or not she should do what she wanted to. Would he be mad? What would he think of her?

After contemplating both ways for what felt like forever, she finally decided that she would do it. She would go talk to Bankotsu.

Akiko looked over at Kageyu who was sleeping in the corner. She did feel bad that Kageyu, the only one left she cared about, wasn't the one she wanted to talk to, but the person she hated most was. It was still pretty dark out. Judging by the position of the moon, it was around midnight. She slowly opened the sliding door and crept quietly to Bankotsu's room. When she got there she opened his door as discretely as she could. The last thing she wanted was for someone like Mukotsu or Renkotsu to catch her. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if Jakotsu caught her.

'_Wait!' _she thought suddenly. _'What do I care if any of them find out? I'm just going to talk to Bankotsu. And that's all. I have nothing to be afraid of.'_

She walked quietly up to him and kneeled down. "Bankotsu," she tapped him lightly on his shoulder.

He opened his eyes and rubbed them drowsily. "Akiko? What's wrong?"

* * *

A/N: Wooh! My longest chapter yet! By the way, Kunoichi would go in disguise to trick men or whomever they were supposed to kill. One of their codes was that they could not fall in love with the person they were to kill. So that is what Bankotsu meant by when he said that. Please review, k! And thank you to everyone who has so far. 


	8. Nightmare

**Chapter Eight: Nightmare**

Akiko's heart began to race. Bankotsu was now staring at her completely awake. She now regretted coming to see him.

"Akiko… is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked her with concern.

The kindness in his voice made her feel better. "Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me… what… death is like." She looked away, afraid that he would be mad that she had asked him something like that; something that probably brought back painful memories.

To her surprise and relief, Bankotsu just smiled. "Oh. For a second there, I thought you were going to say something serious." His smile faded when he saw the angry look Akiko gave him. "Here, lay down," he motioned for her to lie down next to him.

She blushed at this unexpected invitation. "What?" she asked quickly.

He stared blankly for a second. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Realizing that Bankotsu's invitation was innocent, she lied down. He let her rest her head on his arm as he lied back down too. Akiko's heart, which had returned to normal, sped up again, even faster than before. Bankotsu's warm body was leaning gently against her. She thought that at this distance from each other, he could probably hear how loud her heart was beating.

"So," he continued, "You want to know what death is like, do you not?" she nodded and he went on. "Well when I was captured, I was beheaded. The last thing I remember is feeling the blade of a sword go through my neck, and then everything went black. It wasn't really like sleeping though. I no longer had any feeling in my body. Everything just seemed like it didn't exist anymore. The next thing I remembered is being awoken by Naraku. I don't think I remember what happened in between that because that was when I was dead, and now I am alive once more. Because it has to do with where my soul was and not my actually body, which has my memories, I guess I just don't remember what happened then. Does that answer your question?"

Akiko nodded again. She wasn't really sure herself. Then another thing happened that she couldn't explain: she felt tears burn behind her eyes. The last thing she wanted was for Bankotsu to see her cry, but she could not hold them back. Two hot ears streamed down her face.

"What's wrong?" Bankotsu asked suddenly when he noticed.

"I guess I just haven't had much time to think about my family and everything that happened. And now it's all just suddenly hitting me that they are all dead," she choked between cries.

Bankotsu didn't know what to say. For the first time in his life he really felt guilty for killing someone. Nobody had ever cried to him telling him how upset they were that people they loved were dead. He knew she wasn't thinking it right then, but it was his entire fault to begin with. If he hadn't accepted the mission to kill them, she would be happy right now, living with her family in her village. Not thinking about death, being a sadistic, mercenary ninja.

Bankotsu used his free hand to wipe her tears off her cheeks. "I am sorry," he said truthfully. He could not think of anything else to say. He brushed her long bangs out of her eyes and stroked her hair until she began to calm down. After she had stopped sobbing and was only making soft weeping noises he spoke to her again. "Akiko, I understand that you want to kill me and the rest of the Shichinintai to avenge your village. But I cannot allow you to just yet. You see, a lot of the Shichinintai believe that Naraku can't be trusted. It was originally only Renkotsu's idea, but we have decided to kill Naraku. But we don't know how to exactly do this yet. That's why I asked you to join. You can sneak in and try to find out some stuff about him. Kind of like what you were planning with us."

Akiko was surprised that Bankotsu had already known that. She was even more surprised that he was saying sorry for what he did over ten years ago. "Bankotsu… after I help you kill Naraku, you will allow me to carry out my retribution?"

"Yes, but don't think that I or any of the others will just let you kill us. If you choose revenge, which I expect you to, you may die in the process of it. If you turn against us, we will try to kill you."

"I know," she said softly, becoming tired from the crying. "I do not want to kill any of you, but I must do it for my village. I owe my loyalties to them."

"It's like I said, I expect you to choose to get revenge. But you will help us with Naraku, right"

"Mm-hm," she muttered quietly before she fell asleep to Bankotsu still stroking her hair. Right before she finally drifted off, she was almost sure that she felt Bankotsu kiss her gently on her forehead.

_Akiko sat picking flowers in a meadow outside her village. She hummed a sad, haunting melody. It was a warm, pleasant day. The sky was pure blue and birds chirped from up in the heavens. When she was done with the flowers she got up, to head back home. She walked through the busy roads of the Village of Ryuukotsusei. The mighty dragon himself could be seen not far off, towering over the village. Although he may not have been awake, he looked as if he were guarding the village. _

_She watched as familiar faces walked past her. Some said hello and others just greeted politely. She felt so happy to be back. Akiko walked into her own home. Her mother was cooking something on the stove. It smelled so nice. _

_"Akiko, where are your brother and sister? I do not want them to miss dinner. Your father should be back at any moment."_

_"I don't know where they are, Mother," she said truthfully._

_Soon her whole family was home. They laughing and talking while they ate. Akiko had missed them so much, but she couldn't think of why. She remembered getting up early that morning and going out to get some medicinal herbs for Chiyu, a doctor who worked in the village. She then saw the flowers and thought that they were so lovely that she would pick some. It wasn't as if she had been gone very long, but she missed seeing her mother, father, brother, and sister so much. _

_Later Akiko was getting ready for bed. She heard her mother scream so she ran quickly to see what was wrong. Her mother was huddled over, crying. Her back was turned to Akiko. _

_"Mother, tell me what is wrong."_

_She turned around. Blood ran down her cheeks like tears. When she saw Akiko, her eyes filled up with more blood and spilled over. "Akiko, how could you? You traitor!" she yelled. _

_Akiko didn't know what to say. Her mother's bloody eyes grew absent and dead looking. Akiko ran away, terrified of this person. She knew that that couldn't have been her mother. It must have been some demon. She ran to go get her father._

_When she finally got to him, he looked at her with the same dead looking eyes. Also, like her mother he shouted, "How could you? You traitor!"_

_She ran from him too. She eventually found her brother and sister. They as well had the cold, black eyes. Only they had deep gashes all over their bodies. Blood steadily drained from them. She turned around to see her mother slashed up but still managing to drag herself along. Her father's brains leaked through a huge cut going down his head. _

_She ran through the streets trying to find someone to help her. The farther she ran, the more people she knew had dead eyes, fatal injuries, and were yelling that she was a traitor._

_She finally was backed into a corner. Her family and the villagers were approaching her; she thought they would surly kill her. Right as they all ganged up on her their flesh began to rot quickly. Soon all their bodies were deteriorated and nothing more than their bones remained. Akiko touched one gently and all of them collapsed into dust. _

_The pleasant, busy village was now horrid and empty. The warm beautiful day was now cold, drab and consumed in darkness. It reeked of pain and death. Akiko sat down in the center of it. It was disturbingly quiet. Right then she wanted nothing more than to leave it. _'Why did they call me a traitor?' _she thought. _'What did I do? Is it because of… Bankotsu?' _suddenly it all came back to her…_

"Akiko," she heard someone say in a far off.

She opened her eyes slowly to see Bankotsu looking down at her.

"Are you okay? Were you having a nightmare?"

She rubbed her eyes, realizing that it was all just a dream. "I guess." She looked around to see that she was still in Bankotsu's room. "Is it morning?"

"Yeah. It's still pretty early though. I don't think anyone else is up yet. In fact I wouldn't either if you hadn't kicked me in your sleep," he yawned

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged and fell back down next to her. "Wake me later. I'm still tired."

Akiko decided that it would be best if she went back to her own room now, before anyone found out she slept in Bankotsu's bed the previous night. "I'll leave so you can sleep."

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm not mad or anything," he said lying on his side with his eyes closed.

"No, I'll probably keep kicking you. I will see you when you get up then." And she pushed the sliding doors open to head back to her own room. When she got to her room, though, she was not in the mood to sleep anymore. Akiko was still too shook up from her dream to go back to sleep. She sat on the floor thinking about her dream. _'_Am _I a traitor for not choosing to kill them right away? I did say that I planed on doing it. And I still am. No matter what.' _

The thought of not avenging her family just because Bankotsu wasn't like she thought he would be made her start to feel sick to her stomach again. She was still upset from the previous night. She thought maybe if she got some fresh air it would stop her queasiness.

She stepped outside. The sky was a light pinkish blue color. The sun was still rising. It was a warm day out. It reminded her of the day in her dream. Akiko stepped onto the dewy grass. It was cool and wet against her bare feet. She rested against the edge of the castle, watching the sunrise reach higher into the sky.

She ended up getting so lost in thought that she did not realize that someone was out there with her. "You usually wake up this early?" someone jerked her out of her thinking.

"Oh! Uh, sometimes."

Renkotsu smiled mechanically. "Is something wrong?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Your eyes are puffy. It looks like you were crying."

Akiko couldn't think up a lie quick enough so she said nothing.

Unfortunately, Renkotsu would not let it drop. "So, what is wrong?"

She knew she could not think up a story, so she figured she just tell him the truth. "I was just thinking about my family is all."

His false smile returned for a quick moment and then faded. "I think Bankotsu regrets killing them."

"Really? And what makes you think that?"

This time he smirked, but it went away in less than a second. "I've heard him say a few things about it."

It then hit Akiko that perhaps she and Bankotsu weren't alone last night. She looked up at him with a quizzical look.

As if he read her mind he smirked again. "I had just gotten up to get something to drink. When I heard crying I just walked in that direction to see if something was wrong."

Akiko heaved a deep sigh and said, "Yeah, I was crying, so what of it?" she pretty much knew where Renkotsu was going with this, but refused to act like it.

He shrugged. "Nothing. I was just curious. I only listened for a second. Why? What did you think I was thinking?"

She glared at Renkotsu. He was starting to get on her nerves. "You know what I was thinking. Nothing happened. But you know what will happen if you say anything to anyone, so please don't."

Renkotsu seemed to understand how frustrated she was and gave in. "I won't say anything. Especially to Jakotsu," he added with another smirk.

"Thank you," she said truthfully grateful.

"Don't read too much into it. I still don't think you are worthy to join the Shichinintai, but you are a pretty skillful kunoichi and we need you to help us kill Naraku before he betrays us. And you can't do that if Jakotsu gets so jealous that he kills you."

When Akiko didn't say anything, Renkotsu continued, "You plan on killing us afterward, correct?"

"Yes."

"I suppose that Bankotsu already warned you that-"

"Yes, I know that you will not show me any mercy."

"As long as you know. So this means there is a truce between us until then?"

"I suppose."

Renkotsu nodded and went back inside. The sun was now almost completely risen. In the castle, Akiko could hear Suikotsu and Jakotsu awake and arguing about something. When they were still fighting a little few minutes later, Akiko began to get curious and went inside to see what was wrong.

When she got inside she saw Suikotsu, Jakotsu, Bankotsu, Renkotsu, and Mukotsu all standing around talking to each other. (Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu, not being able to go into the castle, slept outside) When they saw Akiko standing there, they all got dead quiet. Including Jakotsu and Suikotsu. All everyone did was stare at her angrily.

* * *

A/N: Thank you everyone who reviewed. I hoped you liked chapter eight. I'll try and write chapter nine as quickly as I can. 


	9. Betrayal pt 1

**Chapter Nine: Betrayal pt. 1**

Akiko stared back at them for a minute. "What's wrong?" she asked when no one said anything.

"Don't act like you don't know!" Jakotsu yelled at her.

Suikotsu picked up a folded piece of paper and shoved it into her hands. "Here, this is for you."

Akiko opened it up and read what was written on it:

_Akiko, _

_I would like to know when you are going to kill the Shichinintai. You told me it would not take very long. I trust you are still going to do it. After all, you really seemed like you wanted the eternal life I offered you for when you do it. Get it done quickly.  
__-Naraku_

After reading it she looked up to them again. "You don't really believe this do you? I don't even know Naraku."

Her question was answered by the malevolent glares she was getting by everyone. Even Kageyu.

"Akiko, you've been working for Naraku the entire time?" Bankotsu asked.

"No! I told you, I don't even _know _this Naraku!"

"I knew we should have never trusted that deceitful bitch," Renkotsu said to Bankotsu in an 'I-told-you-so' way.

"And for your betrayal, you will die!" Jakotsu said as he pulled out Jakotsutou.

Bankotsu stopped him before he could swing is snake-like sword at her. "Wait. Maybe she's telling the truth."

"What?" Everyone else but Akiko yelled.

"I said maybe. For now, Akiko, leave and if Naraku doesn't kill you because you couldn't finish us off, then you can come back."

"But, Bankotsu, I AM telling the truth. I gave you my word that I would not try and get revenge until I helped you finish Naraku off!" The moment she uttered that sentence, she regretted it. It made it sound as if she really was a traitor.

Bankotsu's usual kind look that he gave her was replaced by a cold, glare of hatred. She realized that he mostly didn't believe her. And from what she had heard by Master Kensei, Bankotsu highly valued loyalty. She sighed and turned to leave.

"Akiko, wait," she heard Kageyu say as he ran up to her and followed her out of the inn.

When they were a good distance from the inn, Akiko turned on Kageyu. "Thank you very much for not saying anything!"

"What? You mean when they were accusing you of joining forces with Naraku?"

She gave him an irritated look and said, "Yes, you knew I didn't do anything. How could you not believe me?"

"I'm sorry, Akiko. When they read that letter, I wasn't thinking. I guess I just jumped to conclusions…."

"You think?" she said in a sarcastic, still irate tone.

"I said I was sorry. And at the time I was a little upset that you never once mentioned to me what you were thinking about. Like how concerned you were with death."

"How did you know that?" she asked. She felt a sickening feeling in her stomach.

Kageyu froze in his tracks. "I… I woke up and saw that you were not in the room. After a while when you didn't return, I went out to find you. On the way, I ran into Renkotsu, Mukotsu, and Suikotsu. I think Jakotsu was still sleeping or something… But anyway, we heard what you said. And when that letter mentioned how Naraku promised you eternal life, it made me think that you just didn't tell me or something."

"So, what your saying is, that if you hadn't gone to look for me, no one would have known about the death thing, and I may have been able to explain to everyone that I am not helping Naraku?"

Kageyu did not say anything for a while. "Bankotsu would have known," he said eventually.

Akiko suddenly lost her temper. "How the fuck could you side with _them_? Even if I was helping Naraku, it would be to get revenge!"

Kageyu looked very taken aback. Without saying anything, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction he was walking with Akiko. She watched slowly walk away with his tail between his legs. Before he was completely out of sight, she could have sworn she heard a sad, muffled "sorry".

It had been hours since Kageyu left Akiko. As a stray cat from a nearby village walked by, she picked it up and examined its eyes. "About noon," she said quietly to herself.

Soon she reached an old abandoned temple. Akiko walked up the stone steps. There was a big hole that covered a few of them. It looked like there had once been a bunch of monks living there. She noticed that the main part of the temple was burned to the ground. In her mind, Akiko wondered if this might have been the work of the Shichinintai.

She sat down on what was left of the outside of the temple, which sat upon a hill. She began to regret what she said to Kageyu. After all, it wasn't necessarily his fault that Renkotsu, Suikotsu, and Mukotsu knew that she talked to Bankotsu. _'I should have never even gone to talk to Bankotsu. I should have just said something to Kageyu. Why did I yell at him? It wasn't his fault,' _she kept thinking about how bad she felt until she noticed the sun starting to set.

Figuring she could find some village to stay in for the night, Akiko made her way back down the steps. She was watching the clear summer sky and did not take notice to the vine growing on the steps about half way down. Her foot got caught on it and before she had time to stop catch herself, she was tumbling down the steps. Akiko felt her head connect with the edge of a step. When she hit the bottom of the stone steps, her eyes began to go out of focus and everything went blurry. She tried to get up, but could not move. Akiko felt like she was getting dizzy, then all around her went completely black.

Akiko could not open her eyes. Her whole body felt numb. Off in the distance, she heard people talking. It sounded soft and faint. She could feel something wet beneath her. Struggling with all her might, she opened her eyes. The pain in her head caused them to shut again. She tried once more. This time she managed to keep them open, despite the pain. Her vision was still blurry though

She became more aware of her surroundings. Akiko was lying on some kind of bed. She couldn't see what she was laying on that was wet, but she had a pretty good idea of what it was. Trying her best to sit up, she leaned over onto her side and pushed herself up. She had been sleeping in a puddle of her own blood. Automatically, she reached a hand to the back of her head. There was some type of bandage wrapped around it.

"Oh, you have awakened, have you?" a male voice caughther attention as itdrifted across the small room she was in.

Akiko stared at the man. He had long white hair that came to about his mid-back, deep black eyes, and wore a long pure white kimono. He didn't look like he was very old, perhaps in his late 20s. Akiko figured he was much older though. She assumed he was some kind of demon.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with a sweet smile.

"My head really hurts." The pain that had seared through her head when she first woke up was getting worse by the second.

"I thought so. Here, drink this. It should numb some of the pain." The strange man handed her a cup with a sparkly, transparent blue liquid.

Akiko looked at it and then at him. She had never seen anything that looked like that before.

"It won't hurt you. It's something my species of demon uses. It works for humans too. Besides that it will help the pain, it also helps for recovery after healing."

Akiko sipped the liquid. It didn't taste bad. In fact, it was like drinking water. "What do you mean it helps after healing?"

"I'll explain it to you in a moment. First let me introduce myself. My name is Hishouhato. I am a Pure Demon."

"Pure Demon?"

"Yes, the Pure Demons were a race of demons who lived on Mt. Hakurei. Because they were born there, the barrier did not harm them. One day, something happened. An evil force came there and killed almost all of the Pure Demons. The only ones who survived are me, my wife, and our daughter. Oh, you must meet them!" Hishouhato left the room and returned only a short moment later.

Two demons who looked similar to him came in. One was a woman about the same age as him. She had brown hair even longer than Akiko's. Her eyes were a bright hazel color. She wore a kimono like Hishouhato, except hers was a light green. The other demon was a girl who looked to be about five. She had shoulder length red hair and big blue eyes. Her kimono was shorter than her parents and it was orange and yellow.

"This is Kakeruuma," Hishouhato said motioning toward his wife. "And this is Uzuniji," he put his hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"What is your name?" Kakeruuma asked. Her voice was soft and melodic like her husband's.

"Akiko."

Kakeruuma smiled as sweetly as Hishouhato did. "What were you doing so deep in the forest by yourself?"

Akiko merely shrugged. She wasn't in the mood to relive what had happened. Let alone tell the story to three complete strangers, who just happened to be demons.

"You don't have to tell us. But it is so good to see you awake. Now we can heal you."

"What does that mean?" she asked again.

"We have the power to heal people. Only they have to be awake or it doesn't work," Uzuniji said in a squeaky little voice.

All three of them sat down around her and held their hands out. A pinkish glow emitted from them and Akiko felt the pain her head leave instantly.

"All done!" Uzuniji giggled. "It really is a good thing we found you. You probably would have died from that injury."

"Thank you very much. But I am sorry to say I do not have anything to pay you with."

Kakeruuma closed her eyes and leaned back some as she said softly, "No need to pay us. In fact, how would you like it if we help you to earn the trust of the Shichinintai again"

"W-what? How did you know about that?"

"When we heal, we see the entire memories of that person," Hishouhato said.

"Oh, I see. …So, you know how to help me?"

**MEANWHILE**

Bankotsu sat alone thinking about what happened. _'Did Akiko really agree to help Naraku? She did want revenge, but would she actually betray us to do it? What am I thinking? She's a ninja. It's practically her job to do things like that. Besides, Naraku was promising her eternal life. It couldn't have been just a coincidence that she asked me about it. But still… Why do I feel so bad about it? _She's _the traitor. I shouldn't miss her like this.' _

Bankotsu sighed, thinking of the previous night. How he felt so bad for her. _'Akiko, nothing happens when you die. You are gone forever and that's that. There is nothing after death.'_

"Bankotsu no Oo-Aniki, you are not still worried about that damn wretch, are you? She betrayed us. Why don't you kill her?" Jakotsu asked innocently

Bankotsu sighed. "Jakotsu, I think she might have been telling the truth. What if Naraku found out that she was helping us and framed her so we'd kill her?"

Jakotsu frowned. "Aniki, you don't love her more than me do you?" Jakotsu asked in a melodramatic tone.

"No, no! I was just saying that- I mean she could be- What if-" He sighed again, but more deeply this time.

Jakotsu hid a smirk from Bankotsu. _'Could he really like her?' _he wondered.

* * *

A/N: Hope you liked. I should have pt. 2 up by Saturday or Sunday. 


	10. Betrayal pt 2

Disclaimer: I've been forgetting to put these in lately… Well, so you know, I don't own the Shichinintai.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Betrayal pt. 2**

Akiko opened her eyes to find herself still laying on the bed her three new demonic acquaintances had put her. The last thing she remembered was them telling her that they would help her gain Bankotsu's trust again, then she felt dizzy and blacked out once more.

_'At least my head doesn't hurt,' _she thought bringing her hand up to feel where the blood had dried. "Ugh! Now I'm going to have to take a bath. Oh well, it can wait until I get back to Bankotsu."

Akiko got up and slid open the doors. "Hishouhato-sama! Kakeruuma-sama! Uzuniji-chan!" she called, not knowing where anyone was. It was eerily quiet in the odd hut they had brought her to.

"Oka-chan and Oto-chan went to go show your friends that you were innocent. I was told to wait here and watch over you," she heard Uzuniji say from behind her.

"Okay. Thank you very much to all of you for helping me. But, how are they going to convince them?"

Uzuniji giggled. "They are going to show them your memories and how Naraku set you up." She paused for a moment but then blurted out shyly, "do you want to play with me?"

Akiko smiled at the young girl and said, "sure. What do you want to play?"

Uzuniji smiled again. "Well… you ask the person a question and they have to answer it truthfully. If they do then they get one of these stones," she pulled a smooth silver rock from her kimono. "And if you lie, you have to give one to the person who asked the question. We each start out with three." She handed took out a small bag full of the stones and gave Akiko three. "Ready to play?"

Akiko examined the stones. "I guess."

Uzuniji brought Akiko outside and sat her down on the ground. "I'll go first!" she said cheerily. "Akiko-san, do you like the color blue?"

Akiko hadn't expected the questions to be this simple, even if she was playing a little girl. "Yeah."

The small redhead looked at her not blinking for a short moment. Her big blue eyes bore into Akiko's brown ones. "Here you go," she said handing her another stone from the bag. "Your turn!"

She thought for a second to think up a question. "What is your favorite color?"

Uzuniji pondered this and then said, "Purple. Do you trust me?" Akiko nodded and she said, "My turn again. Are you in love with Bankotsu?"

"Huh?" was all she could get out. In truth, she wasn't sure herself. "No," she told Uzuniji faintly.

Her blue eyes bore into Akiko's again. This time longer and she still didn't blink. Once she decided that he could tell if Akiko was lying or not, she stopped. "You are lying," she informed her. "I get your stone. Hey! So far I'm winning," she said adding the stone to her collection.

"No, I wasn't lying!" Akiko frantically yelled.

"Yes, you were. I know if you are lying or not, and you were. Sooooo, you love Bankotsu," she said happily. "Since you lied, I get to go again."

"I do NOT love Bankotsu!" she shouted.

"Well, I asked you if you loved him. You said 'no'. You were lying. Thus, you love him," Uzuniji stated simply.

Akiko continued to play the game with Uzuniji, but she couldn't help thinking about what the young girl had said to her. Was she truly in love with Bankotsu?

Uzuniji wound up convincing Akiko to play a few more games with her. She wasn't really in the mood, but she felt like she owed it to her to humor her. Soon, Hishouhato and Kakeruuma returned with solemn looks on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Akiko asked them quickly.

Hishouhato looked at her with sympathy. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this…"

"What?" she repeated worriedly.

"When we explained to your friends what had happened, we didn't have time to explain that you were with us. They got worried and went to find Naraku because they thought he had hurt you. Naraku had powerful demons guarding the castle and the Shichinintai didn't make it back."

As he finished Akiko felt a lump in her throat. Her heart skipped a beat, knowing she would never see Bankotsu again. A familiar feeling went throughout her body. It was the feeling of severe loneliness. A cold, empty feeling that filled her stomach.

She managed to utter a soft 'thank you' and quickly ran away from the hut and the demons who had been so kind to her.

She ran as fast as she could toward the inn. Akiko wasn't really sure why. Maybe it was because she hoped deeply that she would find everyone okay, waiting for her.

By the time she could see the inn, her throat burned from running so long and fast. When she reached the front doors to it, she stopped abruptly. Out of breath, she fell on to the porch. Akiko thought about what had happened in such a short amount if time. She now had no family, no friends, she lost someone she was falling in love with, she couldn't carry out her revenge, (which was what kept her alive for ten years) and she didn't even have Kageyu anymore.

Akiko felt saddened. More so than she had been feeling lately. That sadness was soon replaced with hatred. Hatred stronger than the one she felt for the Shichinintai. Her revenge was now directed toward Naraku. He set her up for the sole purpose of having her killed. In doing so, she lost the last remaining people she cared about.

_'The Shichinintai… I was actually starting to like them. Even Jakotsu. It was me who was supposed to kill them. I swear that I will avenge all of them,' _she thought angrily, clutching her knees up to her chest and resting her forehead on them.

Akiko was struggling to suppress the tears burning her eyes. She didn't take notice at first that someone had slipped their arms around her waist.

She gasped when she felt them rest their head on top of hers. "You're alive. I thought you were dead. I was worried you had died thinking I was mad at you," Akiko heard a familiar voice say.

"B-Bankotsu?" she whispered turning around to see the young leader of the Shichinintai looking at her, smiling as usual. "I thought you were dead!"

He scoffed. "No more dead than I was before you left. What happened?" he asked looking at the blood on her head.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. …Why are you covered in blood?" she just noticed the blood on his hands and armor.

He scoffed again. "There were some demons that we had to take care of."

Without thinking, Akiko pressed her lips to Bankotsu's. It only took a second for her to quickly pull away and turn her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Bankotsu," she mumbled quickly.

His smile widened and he laughed as he said, "I'm glad you're alive too." And he moved closer to her, only a couple inches from her face. Akiko's heart beat loudly again, like when she was invited to lay down next to him only two nights ago.

Bankotsu wiped off some of the blood that remained on her forehead and moved her bangs out of her eyes, looking into them. They fluttered shut as he moved his hand under he chin and leaned in closer. She could feel his warm breath against her mouth until she heard someone yell, "Hey, Aniki, where'd you go?"

Both Bankotsu and Akiko pulled away as Jakotsu came out onto the porch. He spotted her and made a little pouting face. "Oh, it's _you_." He sighed and kneeled down by his two companions. "So, what happened?"

Akiko explained everything that had happened. From how she had the argument with Kageyu to when Hishouhato told her they were dead. They then explained to her how Naraku managed to get away. And how they needed to be careful to watch out for any more of his tricks.

Akiko was still depressed about not having Kageyu with her anymore. But, she figured taking a nice hot bath would calm her some. Besides, the dried blood was beginning to make her sick.

The inn conveniently had a hot spring so later on that night while everyone else was busy talking; she crept away to soak in the spring. The hot water felt so nice on her tense body. She washed her hair over and over until all blood was out. After she had washed up, she decided it wouldn't hurt just to relax a little while longer.

Akiko closed her eyes and sighed as she leaned against a rock. Her relaxation ended, however, when she heard the sound of someone coming into the hot spring from the other side of the rock.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, it took longer than I thought. It would have been finished sooner, but when I was writing, my friend came over. She tried to help me write it, but it ended up being some strange combination of Dragon Ball Z and FLCL. So, as you can imagine, I had to rewrite the whole thing. Also, school starts the 24th for me so it will probably take longer for me to update now. I'll try hard to get as much typed out as I can, though! 


	11. Hot Springs and Dillemas

**Chapter Eleven: Hot Springs and Dilemmas**

Akiko heard a voice say, "Come on, what difference does it make? We're all guys!"

Then another voice was heard making a sarcastic remark.

"Bankotsu no Oo-Aniki! Renkotsu is being mean to me!" the first voice whined.

"Renkotsu, leave Jakotsu alone. I need a bath anyway…" Bankotsu's voice replied.

Renkotsu sighed and Akiko heard yet another voice- Suikotsu's. "Bankotsu is right. We can trust Jakotsu." Judging by his tone, Akiko assumed he was the good doctor Suikotsu and not the killer Suikotsu.

Akiko found herself subconsciously looking carefully around the rock to see what was going on. The second she saw the sight of the four of them completely naked she gasped and turned back around to hide behind the rock. She could feel her cheeks burning and knew she blushing terribly.

She sunk deeper into the water, hiding still behind the rock. _'Oh no! What do I do now? I can't just get up. I suppose I'll just have to wait until they get out. Please don't come over here!' _she thought nervously.

Akiko could hear the splashes of them getting into the hot spring. _'What am I going to do!' _her thoughts were getting frantic.

"Hold on," Bankotsu said. "Be quiet, I think I just heard something."

A gasp escaped Akiko's mouth. She really hoped that no one heard it.

She heard Bankotsu move toward her. She panicked and did the only thing she could think of: hide under the water. She took a deep gulp of air and submerged into the water. Luckily for her, the water was a steamy white color from the temperature so it would be harder for her to be seen.

One underwater, Akiko opened her eyes. She could see the faint, blurry outline of something coming closer to her. She slowly backed up to find that the rock made a small cove-like trench at the end. It was pretty deep underwater so she figured it wasn't even visible from above.

Akiko was beginning to loose air and she could see the blurry outlines of the other three approaching. _'Why me?' _she thought, trying to sustain air, hiding deeper into her hiding place. She could tell that they knew that someone was there and they weren't going to leave until they caught whoever it was.

She tried thinking up a plan. _'I suppose I could just come up long enough to tell them to leave. Of course then they'll wonder why I was underwater for so long and why I didn't tell them sooner._ She sighed mentally. _'I have no idea what to do…' _Akiko could no longer think straight. She was getting lightheaded. Her whole body was beginning to go limp. '_I have to go above water now. Any longer and I'll drown? Wait, why can't I move? My foot is stuck in the trench. I can't get free!' _Akiko struggled to get her foot loose from the crack in the ground. It wouldn't budge. Now, she hardly even had any strength left._ No! I can't die now! After everything I went through, I can't drown now…' _And then Akiko found herself once again falling victim to sleep. But this sleep was different. It seemed so strange to her. Before she was fully asleep she knew that this time, no one would be able to wake her up.

**/Bankotsu's Point of View (kind of)/**

Bankotsu knew that someone or something was there in that hot spring. When he searched but didn't find anything, he figured it would be best if he got out before whatever it was came along again.

It wasn't until all of them were out of the water and they rejoined Mukotsu, Ginkotsu, and Kyoukotsu that something hit him: Akiko wasn't there.

"Hey, have any of you seen Akiko?" he asked, looking at his fellow mercenaries.

None of them seemed to know. "I remember that she was sitting and talking with us a while ago. Then I thought that she probably went to the bathroom or something and it made me remember that I was in the mood for a bath," Jakotsu commented.

"A bath?" Bankotsu said with a nervous feeling in is stomach. "You don't think that that thing I heard was…?"

He got up and ran to the hot spring. The rest of the Shichinintai followed him. They all searched for her in the water.

When they didn't find her Renkotsu said, "Bankotsu, she must not be here. Maybe she went for a walk or something.

"Maybe…" Bankotsu said softly. The others took this as a sign to let him be alone.

"We are going to go look around for her," the kindhearted Suikotsu told him. Bankotsu nodded.

After they left he sighed deeply. He hoped that they would find Akiko, but had a strange feeling that they wouldn't. He let his feet dangle in the warm water. He swished them slightly, just daydreaming. It suddenly dawned on him that something felt weird against his foot. He reached down into the water to brush it away. As it touched his hand, he realized that it felt like hair.

Bankotsu went under the water and felt around until he found what he had been searching for. He picked up Akiko's slumbering body and laid it down on the ground. Bankotsu got a good look at her face; it was so pale. Her lips had turned a bluish color and her eyes remained shut.

"Akiko!" he yelled, noticing she wasn't breathing. Bankotsu felt the pulse in her wrist and then in her neck. He didn't feel anything. Akiko was dead.

He carried her cold, lifeless body back to the inn. Once inside, he put her down and wrapped a blanket around her. He had been so relieved to see her alive, sitting on the porch earlier. And now, he had actually lost her forever.

'Akiko… you died of a natural reason. I cannot avenge you. But, don't worry I'll kill Naraku for framing you. I will at least get revenge for that,' Bankotsu thought, wishing he had noticed she was missing earlier. About an hour later the Shichinintai returned. Bankotsu explained what happened. Jakotsu looked like he was going to cry. "Aniki, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have forced everyone to take a bath!" Renkotsu glared at him, but Bankotsu said, "Don't blame yourself, Jakotsu. She should have just warned us that she was in there." The last part, he said with grief. "Should we burn her body?" Kyoukotsu asked. Bankotsu nodded solemnly. "Yes. We should burn it with Dohanone and her other possessions too," he said going over to her stuff and picking it up. As he walked back over a few things fell to the ground. One of the things being the shard of the Shikon jewel that he allowed her to keep. Bankotsu bent down and picked it up, formulating a plan. "Do you think it would be worth it to use this shard of the jewel in order to bring Akiko back to life?" he asked mischievously. Renkotsu and Jakotsu both said at the same time, "no." "Jakotsu, I thought you said you felt bad." Jakotsu smiled slyly. "Well… maybe not that bad." "I think that you should bring her back," Suikotsu said giving Jakotsu and Renkotsu angry looks. Mukotsu grinned widely as he said, "Yes, Bankotsu. I think you should bring her back." "Me too," Kyoukotsu agreed. Ginkotsu made a "Gessssh" sound that was presumed to be a 'yes'. Bankotsu walked up to Akiko. "Good. Then it's settled. I'm bringing Akiko back to life." He bent down with the jewel shard in his hand and placed it over her neck. A black light glowed from the fragment. It embedded itself into her neck and the light disappeared. 

**/Akiko's (sort of) Point of View/**

Akiko felt a warmth return to her body. When she was dead she had not feeling or existence. Now, she at least knew that she was alive. It bothered her though that she couldn't breathe. It still felt as if the water was clogging her lungs.

She sat up abruptly and coughed out a large mouthful of water. Akiko noticed that everyone was staring directly at her. Since of what happened the last time they did this she was a bit worried. However, she assumed the staring came from the fact that she had just been resurrected from the dead. Not like this was something they have never encountered before…

"Thank you for bringing me back to life," she told them happily. She did not remember what it was like actually being dead, but Akiko knew that for now she liked being alive better.

"Well, we need you alive to kill Naraku. That was the only reason I allowed it," Renkotsu said coldly.

Jakotsu smirked even though he still looked angry. "Yeah, that's my excuse too."

Akiko turned to Mukotsu to see what he had to say and saw the looks he was giving her. She glanced down at her attire to see that she had nothing on but a blanket wrapped around her.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked flushing red again.

Bankotsu shoved her belongings onto her lap. "Here. We'll leave," he said getting up and walking out the doors as all but one followed. The exception was Mukotsu. "You may still be groggy from being dead. I'll watch over you so you don't fall down and get hurt," he said very seriously.

Bankotsu sighed again and dragged the old Poison Master out of the room. As they left Ginkotsu made another 'gesh' noise making sure Mukotsu left with the rest of them.

Now, Akiko was alone. She got dressed and thought about what had just happened. She could not remember anything about the afterlife, but had a strong feeling that there **was **something. "Oh well. With the jewel shard keeping me alive now, I'll probably wind up like the Shichinintai- forever like this. Not alive, but not dead. I suppose I really am just like them now. I guess I'll remain a member for a while. Who knows, maybe I will wait a while for revenge. I killed people to without remorse and got paid for it. Can I really kill them and not be a hypocrite? No, I can't. They aren't really even that bad. Sure, they kill people, but I am no difference. I can't kill them anyway. I owe my life to them now. I'll still find someway to avenge my village, but for now I'm just going to stay with the Shichinintai," she whispered softly to herself, finishing getting dressed.

Later that night, Bankotsu decided that they had been staying at the inn for too long and it was time to leave. Since it was getting dark, nobody wanted to start heading out yet.

"Why can't we wait for morning?" Renkotsu asked irritably.

"Because we are leaving now," Bankotsu said in a voice that told Renkotsu that he could not argue.

All of the Shichinintai seemed tired and was lagging behind except for Bankotsu. Akiko figured it wouldn't hurt to walk with Bankotsu so she left the rest to sleepily drag their feet across the dark road.

"Bankotsu," she said softly as she approached, "why _are _we leaving now?"

A smile spread a cross Bankotsu's face. "I need to get someplace by tomorrow night. Since you died, I'm falling behind on my schedule and need to make up for lost time.

"Where are we going?"

The smile got bigger as he replied, "You shall see tomorrow night."

By the following evening about everyone wanted to just about kill Bankotsu. He forced them to walk the entire night. (Ginkotsu isn't a tank yet) The only time they got to stop was only for a little bit to get something small to eat. This in particular angered Kyoukotsu.

It was almost dark again when Bankotsu stopped for good. "Here we are," he said showing them a large castle type building. "We're stayin' here for a while. There's an old friend of mine who lives there. I'm sure he won't mind if we stay here."

"Okay…" Renkotsu said raising an eyebrow. "So you dragged us out here just to stay in someplace where someone you knew a long time ago lives?"

Bankotsu had a blank look on his face like this was a very strange question to ask.

"Forget it," Renkotsu sighed heading toward the castle building. "It's not like I really give a damn why were staying here anyway," he muttered with Ginkotsu trailing close behind him.

Everyone fell asleep quickly from the nonstop journey there. Akiko found a nice, soft futon to lie on and was thrilled to be able to get some rest. No sooner had she closed her eyes, though, she heard a gentle rapping outside her door.

"Yes?" she asked lazily.

Before she got a response Bankotsu slid the door open and came into her room. He kneeled down, grabbed her wrist and yanked her up with him. "Come on," he whispered.

"'Come on' where?" she asked, looking at her cozy, inviting bed and thinking about how much she wanted to sleep.

"Remember when I said 'you'll see' why I wanted to come here before nightfall? Well, you are about to see," he said happily and not seeming to be tired at all. "Now come one," he urged pulling her through the door.

* * *

Author's Note: Heh, I should have been studying for my German quiz instead of writing this, but what the hell, I'm good at Deutsch. :) **A somewhat important note**: if you wanted to send a review but couldn't, I enabled it to send me anonymous reviews. (Thank you, Spoon for pointing that out for me) 


	12. Shooting Stars and the Shirokiri Waterfa

**Chapter Twelve: Shooting Stars and the Shirokiri Waterfalls.**

"Hurry! We have to get there before it turns to dawn," Bankotsu said still grabbing Akiko's wrist and dragging her along with him.

"Bankotsu, will you please tell me where we are going?" she panted while running to keep up with him.

Bankotsu never said another word until he stopped so abruptly that Akiko ran into him.

"Sorry," she said with a blush. "So, is this it?" She looked at their surroundings. All it was was a forest. There was nothing particularly interesting about it.

"Yeah. But you might want to get out of this forest so you can see it." He said pulling her through the trees until they were in a clearing.

Akiko gasped at how beautiful the sight was. There were a series of small waterfalls that poured over heaps mossy rocks. They emptied into a clear, shimmering lake. The moon was very bright and it gave the lake and the waterfalls a bright silvery pigment.

"It's so pretty…" she whispered.

Bankotsu smiled. "You know, you're the first person who I have ever showed this to? No one else really likes these kind of things."

"Well I think it is wonderful! Thank you so much for bringing me here," she said in a somewhat sad tone. She wasn't sure why, but for some reason, Akiko found Bankotsu's kindness to her depressing.

"There's something else too. Look up." He pointed to the sky.

She stared at the sky but didn't see anything. "Huh?"

"You need to wait for a little bit."

Bankotsu plopped down on the ground and fell backwards so he was lying down. "Don't worry. Soon you'll see them frequently, but it usually doesn't start for a little while longer."

Akiko assumed she knew what he was talking about and lied down next to him. The soft, thick, green grass was cool from the mist of the waterfalls that blew over them. The two mercenaries silently watched the dark blue sky. There were hardly any clouds and all of the stars were shining brilliantly.

"Look!" Akiko said as she saw a bright flash of light quickly dart across the endless reaches of the night sky.

"There's some more too," Bankotsu said watching three more stars zoomed through the sky for a second and then disappeared.

Bankotsu and Akiko watched the shooting stars for what seemed like hours. The stars were being seen less and less now. Akiko saw the soft, dark red shade of the sun beginning to rise over the horizon. She didn't want to return to the castle-like building. When she was there she was reminded of all the wretched things that had happened to her so far. But, as she watched the stars, she felt happy. She had forgotten that she was dead, that Kageyu probably hated her, that Naraku had wanted her dead, that she was supposed to kill the people that she now liked.

Akiko absentmindedly brought her hand to her neck and felt where the Shikon no Tama jewel shard was. True, she couldn't see it, but she could feel the presence of it. She could sense that it was black and tainted with evil. _'Is it evil because I'm the one using it, or was it evil to begin with? Am I really that horrible of a person that I turned a pure jewel shard into one completely overtaken by darkness? I heard that when a person's heart is filled with malice, the jewel would turn black. Could it be because of Bankotsu?' _she thought, unsure of her own feelings for him.

Akiko turned her head so she could see Bankotsu. He was still laying there, his arms behind his head, looking up at the last few stars. The look on his face made her think that maybe the reason he liked to go there was the same reason she did. Bankotsu looked relaxed and calm. Even more so than usual. Akiko felt that familiar feeling of her heart beating faster. Trying not to be noticed, she inched closer to Bankotsu. She was lying closer to Shirokiri Lake where the mist hit her and it was causing her to grow cold.

Akiko didn't even notice that she had stopped watching the sky and was now watching the calm expression on Bankotsu's face until he said, "is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing," she told him, turning her head back to the sky.

"Cold?" he asked, sitting up.

"Kind of," she said with a shrug, sitting up as well.

Akiko watched as the waterfall still streamed the silver water. _'I'm surprised I don't find that disturbing. Since I just drowned in water yesterday,' _she laughed bitterly in her mind. Her dark-humored joke was forgotten though when she felt Bankotsu wrap his arms around her and pull her to him.

Akiko was so surprised that she couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, she just rested her head against Bankotsu's chest. He rested his arms on her shoulders the long sleeves of his haori warmed her bare arms. (Does Bankotsu wear a haori? Or is it a kimono? Idunno, I'll just say haori)

"Akiko," he said eventually. "I was worried that you were gone forever."

Akiko knew he meant when she had died. This remark caught her off guard and she still couldn't think of anything to say to him. "Bankotsu," she said quietly after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "When I thought that _you _were dead, I was just as worried."

He didn't say anything. Akiko turned her head so she could see the expression on his face. She couldn't tell what it was. He wasn't smiling, he didn't look happy, and he didn't look angry or upset either. She stared into his midnight blue eyes. They were so deep that she got lost in them. He returned the gaze she gave him just as intently.

Bankotsu lifted his arm off of her shoulder and used it to stroke her right cheek. Before she had a chance to think about it, she leaned in closer to him. He moved his other arm and wrapped it around her waist. The hand that was stroking her cheek, he moved under her chin and tilted her head up slightly.

A rush of nervousness went through Akiko as she closed her eyes. Bankotsu's warm lips brushed against hers. She froze for a second, but then relaxed and returned the kiss. Bankotsu pulled away with a smirk on his face. Akiko blushed and tried to pull away, but he kept his arm around her waist.

He let her rest against his chest again. She felt kind of awkward not though. But, Bankotsu didn't seem to feel the same so she gave in and rested her head on his shoulder. It suddenly hit her that she hadn't slept in ages. At least not since before she died. The quiet and tranquility of it all made her fall asleep in a matter of minutes.

After a while Bankotsu sighed and said, "Akiko, I think we should be getting back. It will be morning soon and everyone will wonder where we are."

There was no answer. He saw the peaceful look on her face as she slept. _'Probably best not to wake her up,' _he thought and picked her up. He carried her all the way back to the strange castle. When he got there, he put her in her bed and decided that he could use some sleep himself.

Bankotsu trekked his way through the building getting more and more tired with each step. Right before he got to the door to his room he felt and icy cold presence go though his body and heard a voice say, "So, _you're _Bankotsu?"

* * *

Author's Note: Dreadfully sorry that it took so long. It could have been finished by maybe Wednesday, but when I was typing this Tuesday my power went out because of Hurricane Katrina and since I didn't save, it got erased. And I didn't get a chance to write it after that because my teachers have been giving me a butt-load of homework lately. I maybe could have finished it on Thursday, but I was eating a piece of cake when I was typing it and because of the way I was sitting, I fell off of the computer chair and dropped my cake on the floor. My mom was kinda mad so I had to get off the computer.:( One more thing, hope you liked this chapter. I bet you were wondering, "What mushy bullshit is this?" :cracks up at own joke but then notices no one else is laughing and the only sounds to be heard are crickets chirping: Ahem, yeah… Well, quit making fun of my cornball Bankotsu joke and go review! 


	13. A Mysterious Admirer

**Chapter Thirteen: A Mysterious Admirer **

Bankotsu turned around to get a look at the person who spoke to him. However, the only thing that was there was the dry, warm air of the stuffy castle.

"Strange…" he muttered. "I need to get some sleep." He opened the door and settled into bed. He sighed and closed his eyes. _'I dragged everyone this far, not letting them sleep, and making them stay in this weird old place just to show Akiko the Shirokiri Waterfalls. Too bad I forgot that the shooting stars where supposed to be visible until yesterday. At least then, I wouldn't have had to rush everyone here. Oh well, they all seemed to buy the "I know the person who owns this castle" thing. Which reminds me, I have to remember to thank that guy for not minding that I threatened his life and let my band of mercenaries stay in his home,' _Bankotsu laughed before drifting off to sleep.

Akiko was pleasantly dreaming about her and Bankotsu's eventful evening. It was the first time in ages that she had a nice dream instead of a nightmare. Suddenly a cold feeling passed though her. She ignored it at first, but when it persisted, she sat upright, disturbing her dream.

She rubbed her arms. They weren't cold, and neither was the rest of her body. It was like the cold presence had passed through her soul. Not wanting to get up yet, Akiko pulled her blanket higher and went back to sleep.

"Bankotsu!" Bankotsu heard someone merrily calling his name. He opened his right eye to peer over his blanket to see who it was. "Ohayou!" the person's voice came again.

"'Asa, Jakotsu," Bankotsu said lazily.

"When are you going to get up? It's almost the afternoon," Jakotsu whined, leaning on Bankotsu.

"I guess now," Bankotsu told him, sitting up, running a hand through his messed up hair.

Jakotsu stared at Bankotsu intently while he undid his braid, and combed it with his fingers. "Yes?" Bankotsu asked as Jakotsu continued to stare.

Jakotsu smiled ear to ear. "Nothing," he said sneakily.

"Okay…"

Jakotsu smirked, "I noticed that you _and _Akiko both are sleepy today."

"…So?"

Jakotsu smiled even more sneakily than before. "Well, you both were also missing last night."

"What the fuck? Do you guys spy on us every night to see what we're doing?" Bankotsu said trying to sound angry, but to his inconvenience, it sounded more like embarrassment.

Jakotsu giggled. "No, it just so happens that every time you two are alone together at night, one of us needs to get a drink of water or go to the bathroom at the same time."

Bankotsu sighed as he tied the end of his new braid. "You know, Jakotsu, it's not what you think. I just wanted to show Akiko something."

"And what was that?" he asked.

Bankotsu blushed and avoided eye contact with Jakotsu. "The shooting stars," he mumbled.

Jakotsu burst into laughter. "Awww! How romantic!" he said between laughs, making fun of his friend.

Bankotsu blush intensified. "Shut up! And don't tell anyone either."

"I won't, I won't," Jakotsu said truthfully, finishing his outbreak of laughter. "So… Do you wanna go get something to eat?"

Bankotsu nodded and got up to follow Jakotsu to the kitchen.

Akiko finally got up, getting annoyed at the coldness that would not leave her body. _'Is this the coldness of death? Will I feel this for the remained of the time I walk the earth?' _She sighed to herself as she put on a plain kimono over her ninja outfit and got more awake. _'Maybe something is wrong. I suppose I should ask Bankotsu if this is normal…'_

After, Akiko was ready she wandered through the halls to find Bankotsu. As she walked passed an open door, she felt a warmth coming from outside. It felt so nice that she figured it'd be okay to go outside for a little while.

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining high overhead. She saw a path that led to the front of the castle. _'What's this feeling? It's like something is telling me to go that way,' _Akiko thought, walking down the stone path.

About half way there, she saw a man walking towards her. He wore almost as much armor as Bankotsu. From what she could tell, he was some kind of warlord. As they met on the path, Akiko bowed out of respect and continued on. When she passed him, she noticed how handsome he was. He only looked to be a few years older than her. (Just picture this guy as looking kind of like Takemaru from the 3rd movie, k?)

As they passed he didn't seem to take acknowledge that she was there. But, suddenly, she heard him say, "Woman, what is your name?"

She stopped and looked at the strange man. "Who? Me?"

He smiled slightly and nodded

"It's Akiko," she told him. "Why, may I ask, do you want to know?"

"Akiko," he repeated. "You are quite beautiful. Tell me, would you like to become my wife?"

"Huh?" was all Akiko managed to say.

"I am the lord of a land not far from here. Come with me and be the Lady of the Land!"

For some reason, unknown to her, Akiko felt something strange for this man. She got the same feeling in her heart that she felt when she was around Bankotsu.

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it," she heard herself say.

The warlord nodded again. "I will await your answer. Find me when you have decided. My name is Warusa," he said, kissing her hand and continuing down the path.

After Warusa was gone, it suddenly accrued to Akiko what had happened- she had practically agreed to marry someone she didn't even know. _'What the hell happened? Why did I do that? I don't even **know **him! But still… Something about him made me feel weird. Now that I think about it, that cold feeling got worse when he was near.'_

Akiko became lost in thought about Warusa until she noticed that she was at the front of the castle. There she saw Jakotsu finishing something that he was eating.

"Jakotsu, have you seen Bankotsu?"

He gave her a dull look. "Didn't you see him? I think he went that-a-way," he responded, gesturing toward the way she came.

"Oh. Thanks," she said to him, walking back down the stone path. Up ahead she saw Bankotsu sitting on a rock, looking into a pond filled with koi.

"Hi," she said when he didn't look at her.

He didn't respond for a moment, but then turned his head to look at her.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"No. Nothing. Nothing at all… Akiko-Kisaki."

With that said, Bankotsu got up and walked down the path, the way Warusa was going. _'Could he have overheard what happened?' _she thought worriedly. _'Please, anything but that.' _

Bankotsu walked down the path, following Warusa. _'I don't trust that guy. Akiko wouldn't have just agreed like that. I don't know what that bastard's up to, but no way in Hell am I letting him have her.'_

* * *

A/N:

Kisaki- empress or queen (Bankotsu used it in a mocking sort of way)

Ohayou- good morning

'Asa- basically means 'morning (or g'morning)

Is it just me, or was this chapter… not too good? I have a really bad cold, which means I'm all dizzy and frazzled and whatnot. I might rewrite it sometime when I get better. Maybe. But, until then, read and review!


	14. Fights, Drinking, and Possessions

**Chapter Fourteen: Fights, Drinking, and Possessions**

Akiko could tell that Bankotsu was avoiding her. Every time she went near him, he'd avoid eye contact and go talk to someone else. Akiko sighed, trying to figure out some way to get Bankotsu to talk to her.

"Hey, Renkotsu," she said, when she and the pyromaniac were alone, getting some cannons ready for their next big slaughter.

For once his voice didn't have any traces of annoyance when he spoke to her. "What?"

"I was just wondering… do you ever feel… cold?"

"Why?" she heard him say, his annoyance returning at her stupid question.

Akiko fidgeted with a gun she was holding as she nervously said, "I mean from death."

He stopped putting gunpowder into a cannon and looked at her. The sun, which was setting now gave everything a deep orange tint. "No, I don't. And I don't think anyone else does either. Do you?"

"Just recently," she replied, turning her back to him. "Of course, I just died recently."

"Still, I don't think that's normal," Renkotsu said seriously, his annoyance gone again. "It might mean something else."

Akiko did not like the sound of that. "Like what?"

When he didn't answer her, she turned to face him. He shook his head. "Forget it. No sense in worrying you. You probably are just getting sick or something."

"Sick! With what? Do you think it's serious?" she asked, worriedly.

Renkotsu sighed deeply as he spoke to her again. "It might just be a cold. Have Suikotsu bring out the Doctor and find out if you're worried. Although, it might not be that."

After they had finished loading the guns and weapons and strapped them onto Ginkotsu, Akiko thought maybe she could ask Renkotsu. _'No, I already asked him enough things. I don't want him to think me any more annoying than he already does. I guess I could ask Suikotsu to talk to Bankotsu for me.'_

"Suikotsu? Are you here?" Akiko called, walking into the room Suikotsu was said to be in.

"Yeah. What is it?" he said in not a mean way, but not necessarily friendly was either.

_'Great, evil Suikotsu. I'm going to have to ask him if he'll bring out the Doctor,' _Akiko thought sitting down next to where he sat drinking sake. "Would it be too much trouble for you to get the Doctor and have him see if I'm sick," she asked in the sweetest voice she could. Which wound up sounding nagging.

Suikotsu chuckled, but then flatly said, "No."

"Please," Akiko demanded, loosing her false sweet voice. "I might be sick. What if I let it go and I end up dying again?"

Suikotsu stared at her for a second before saying very matter-of-factly, "Well, why didn't you say so? You don't need that damn doctor to tell you if you're sick or not. _I _can tell you." He glanced her over quickly and said shortly, "You're fine."

Akiko gave him a bit of a glare. "Not that I doubt your medical expertise, but are you sure?"

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You're fine, trust me. I heard what you said to Renkotsu and I agree with him- you are not sick. It's…" But he didn't finish his sentence. "I'll just leave it at that. If you want, I can get Lady Kikyou for when you're ready to…" He trailed off again.

"Why would I need to see Lady Kikyou?" Akiko asked, starting to get angry that everyone seemed to know what was going on except her and they were not willing to go into detail.

"You'll find out soon enough," Suikotsu laughed as he got up, finishing the last of his sake.

Bankotsu watched as Warusa spoke to a priest. He got a bit closer so he could hear what the two were saying.

"Yes, I hope for it to be soon. I must not keep Akiko waiting for I am sure she will be coming to accept my marriage proposal soon," Warusa said in a cocky voice to the elderly man who was to marry them.

After the priest and Warusa departed, Bankotsu walked up to him. "Hey," he said in a cold, deadly voice.

"Aaah, Bankotsu I assume?" said the young warlord, still in a cocky way.

The even younger mercenary smirked. "You assume correctly." (I am so sorry that sounded like a really bad Kill Bill quote there)

Warusa laughed in a triumphant way. "Come to tell me congratulations? After all, I _am _to be married!"

Bankotsu smirked again, lifting Banryuu off his shoulder and pointing the blade at Warusa's throat. "Terribly sorry, but whatever you did to trick Akiko into agreeing to that, I am going to kill you for it."

No longer smiling, Warusa drew his sword. "How very pathetic that you want to kill me just because you are jealous of the love that Akiko and I share."

Bankotsu set down Banryuu as he laughed for real. "'The love Akiko and I share'? Bullshit! You spoke to her for less than a minute. Have you even seen her since then? I don't know why you want her so bad and to tell you the truth, I don't care. But, you will not live long enough to apologize to her for whatever it was that you did."

"I wouldn't put your weapon down, you bastard!" the now angered Warusa shouted, swinging his katana at him.

The no longer laughing Bankotsu picked up his enormous halberd and blocked the katana and broke it in the process.

Akiko who had been walking toward the same place her kind-of-fiancée had accidentally stumbled into the conversation about the time Bankotsu had started picking a fight. She had been listening to their argument and even though she didn't want them fighting, she felt a blush across her cheeks for they were fighting over _her_.

At the beginning of the fight, Akiko was rooting for the halberdier, but then she felt the cold presence again and suddenly she was more concerned whether Warusa made it out alive.

Bankotsu was just about to strike the final blow when Akiko rushed over to them. "Bankotsu! Don't hurt him!"

"Akiko! My beloved, I knew you would choose me," Warusa exclaimed, hugging her to him.

"Akiko…" she heard Bankotsu say quietly. "So, you really have chosen him?"

"I…" was all she could utter before Bankotsu turned his back on the two of them and walked away. "Bankotsu," she called, trying to run to him, but she felt an arm wrap around her, holding her there.

"Don't worry about him," came Warusa's voice in a harsh way. It sounded like some kind of threat. The feeling of coldness overpowered her once more and she let Bankotsu walk away from her. Though deep inside, she was already regretting it.

_'Fine! I refuse to fight for her if she is just going to choose that goddamn fucking asshole!' _Bankotsu thought, angrily, continuing to call him every name he could think of. "I cannot believe she would betray me! From here on out, Akiko is an enemy," Bankotsu said aloud.

"Aniki, calm down. It's not her fault," came Renkotsu's voice.

Bankotsu saw his comrade walking up to him. "How's that?"

"Because… she is being possessed."

Akiko had been forced by Warusa to stay with him the rest of the day making wedding plans. She did not want to stay with him, but the icy feeling in her soul kept her there. Finally, she convinced him that she was too tired to do anything more and he let her go home.

When she got there, the rest of the Shichinintai were asleep with the exception of the leader. She expected him to ignore her or tell her off. "Bankotsu," she said sadly, kneeling down beside him. "I am sorry. Please forgive me. For some reason, Warusa seems to have some kind of power over me."

To her surprise, he pulled her to him and embraced her tightly. "Akiko, do you want something to drink?" he whispered in her ear sending shivers down her spine.

She nodded and Bankotsu gave her a large bowl full of it. She recognized it as the same thing Suikotsu drank earlier. She took it from him and took a small sip of it. She still wasn't completely used to the taste of it. This, however, was definitely not sake. It was much stronger. Bankotsu filled a bowl with the same stuff and leaned back, drinking some of it. Apparently, not even Bankotsu was completely used to this strong liquor, for he didn't gulp it down like he normally did.

"You're not mad at me?" Akiko asked eventually when she decided that Bankotsu wasn't going to yell at her.

"Nope, I think you're too stressed. Drink up. It'll take your mind off things," he said calmly, drinking some more.

She laughed slightly and threw her head back, drowning her worries in the mysterious liquor. It wasn't until she began choking on how strong it was, that Akiko realized she wasn't experienced enough to do it. She gave Bankotsu a look that was a mixture of embarrassment at her stupidity and of anger at the way he laughed at her because of it.

An hour and a half later, Akiko was smashed out of her mind.

"B-B-Baankotsuuuu," she said, trying to stand up, but wound up falling back down again.

"Yes?" said the bemused Bankotsu who was only very slightly drunk. He quite enjoyed how Akiko acted when she was drunk.

"I don't know why I stayed with Warsu… Waraus… Warasu… Warusa today. I don't really want to marry him."

Bankotsu smiled at her. "I know, Akiko."

"Good," she said dramatically. "Because it is _you_ that I love and no one else!"

He stopped smiling and now looked at her sadly. "You're just saying that because of the Shouchuu."

Akiko giggled girlishly and leaned against Bankotsu. "Nuh-uh. I mean it. I love you, Bankotsu. You and only you," she sighed, closing her eyes.

"Thank you," he said quietly, arguing with himself whether or not to say what he wanted to. _'What they hell, she probably won't even remember it anyway,' _he thought. "I love you too." It felt so strange to say that. It was the first time he recalled ever telling someone that he loved them like that.

Bankotsu blushed as he felt Akiko kiss lean up and kiss him on the cheek. She moved so she was sitting in front of him, between his legs, which made him blush even more. He began to grow nervous as Akiko kissed him on the lips. Naturally, he returned her kiss. At first, it was just an innocent kiss like the time at the Shirokiri Waterfalls. But, then Bankotsu felt Akiko's tongue across his lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and opened his mouth, brushing his tongue against hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her.

Bankotsu knew it was wrong for him to kiss her while she was in this state, but something inside of him, would not allow him to pull away. He lied down gently on top of her, but forcefully enough so she couldn't get up. Not that Akiko was even complaining about it.

* * *

Author's Note: Ooooh! Spicy stuff going on here, ne? What will happen, you ask? You'll just have to wait. Damn it! I cannot get that song "These are a few of my favorite things" from _The Sound of Music_ out of my head. Ugh… In case you've been watching InuYasha on adult swim, then you must know that tomorrow is episode 118, The Heart of Mt. Hakurei! That is the episode with Bankotsu and Jakotsu's porch scene where Jakotsu gives Bankotsu the shards and Ban-chan says Ja-kun is weird. So kawaii! Hopefully Jenn Forgie and Matt Hill will do well on their voices. I always loved the part where Jakotsu-kun sneezed. "It's so damn cold!" I love Ai Orikasa as Jakotsu. She was awesome. I don't think his English VA is really trying too hard. Oh, look at me going on and on, rambling. My point is… thanks to all who review :smile, wink, and thumbs up sign with the pointing gesture: (no, no! not _that _pointing gesture, silly!) okay, Demonic Mongoose is now babbling and taking up waaaaay to much time, so bye! 


	15. Exorcism

**Chapter Fifteen: Exorcism**

Even though he knew it would be hard for him to do, Bankotsu decided that he had to stop kissing Akiko. He was afraid what it would lead to if he didn't. However, Bankotsu never got to stop himself.

"Bankotsu, I don't feel good!" Akiko said, sitting up suddenly. She held her stomach for a moment before she crawled over to the door and threw up what little she had eaten lately.

"Well that certainly broke the mood," he said sarcastically to her. Her reply was a mumbled, incoherent sentence that was drowned out by the sound of her retching again. He sighed and kneeled down beside her, pulling her long hair back behind her shoulders.

Akiko made another noise that Bankotsu thought translated to 'Arigatou' and said simply, "No problem."

By the time Akiko's episode was over, she was crying and complaining her throat hurt. Bankotsu sighed, cursing himself for ever giving her the Shouchuu. _'I should have known it would be too strong. It was supposed to calm her down from the whole Warusa thing, but she ended up being in a worse state than she already was.' _

Bankotsu's thoughts were ended when he felt Akiko lay her head on his lap. "Bankotsu, I really don't feel good. My stomach hurts, my head is pounding, and my throat burns," she whimpered softly.

He began stroking her hair again, learning from the last time he did it, that it would help her go to sleep. "I know. And I'm sorry." She made another soft whimpering noise before falling asleep. He leaned back, resting his back against the wall and soon joined her in slumber.

Akiko opened her eyes slowly. Immediately, her head pounded like she had been hit with a ton of bricks. "Oww…" she mumbled, closing her eyes and resting her arm across her face to conceal light.

"So, the sleeping beauty has awoke, has she?" came Bankotsu's voice. Only it sounded like he was yelling it in her ear. "I gotta tell ya," came his voice again, "you're a real lightweight when it comes to drinking."

She removed her arm and looked at him smirking down at her. "What are you talking about? The last thing I remember is drinking that foul tasting drink and then blacking out. …And now my head hurts _really _bad."

Bankotsu made a noise that sounded like a combination of a scoff and a snort. "Why does that not surprise me? You're probably going to get sick again because of the hangover."

"Well, hearing that certainly makes me feel better," said Akiko with bitter sarcasm. But, she knew Bankotsu was right. She could already feel her stomach churning and tasting the sour flavor of vomit in the back of her throat. "I really think I'm going to puke again."

"Hmm… Speaking of which, Wareme- I mean Warusa came by earlier today. He wants to know if you'll meet him somewhere later on."

Akiko tried to stifle the laugh at both of Bankotsu's Warusa insults, but she didn't have the strength and it slipped anyway. Bankotsu, hearing her laugh, smiled a bit himself. He had been serious with both things and did not purposely intend them to be funny, but laughed along with her anyway.

"You're not going, are you?" he asked when she didn't say anything.

She sighed, thinking about her options. She didn't want to make Bankotsu mad, but for some strange, unknown reason, she didn't want to hurt Warusa's feelings either. "Maybe."

Bankotsu's response was completely different from what she was expecting. He smiled brightly and said mischievously, "Let's see if you still want to go after your exorcism."

"I probably will wind up going, even after my-" she cut herself off when it registered what he just said. "Exorcism? What for? I'm not possessed by demons."

"Sorry, but your possessed by _something_. Renkotsu told me about how you mentioned the coldness. That started happening right before you met Warusa right? And suddenly you are thinking of marrying him! What else could it be? You _do _only feel it when you're around him, right?" he added on quickly.

Akiko thought back to how she felt the iciness in her soul right before she headed down the path where Warusa was. Then, during his fight with Bankotsu when she was more worried about him. And of course when she couldn't say no to him as he forced her to make wedding preparations. "You're right. That is when I felt it."

A look of relief swept over Bankotsu. "I thought so. Suikotsu got Kikyou-sama to do it, too, so we know that that bastard's tricks will never work on you again."

The magnified sound of their conversation made Akiko's headache worse than it had been. "I'm going to start getting ready for my exorcism," she said, sitting up, running her fingers through her messy hair. Bankotsu nodded and left so she could get ready in privacy.

After a quick bath, she changed into a different outfit and tied her hair back. Her stomach still felt queasy and her head was still pounding. Drinking some water and washing her mouth out of the bitter taste, she decided now was as good a time as ever to have the exorcism begin. _'Should I eat something for breakfast?' _The mere thought made her want to retch again. _'No, I don't think so.'_

"Ready?" Akiko heard Suikotsu ask as she came to the main part of the building. Suikotsu had become the Good Doctor once more. He was eagerly waiting to assist Kikyou in the exorcism. Akiko had only heard about Kikyou. She never imagined that she'd meet such a powerful miko.

"You are Akiko?" Kikyou asked in a calm, pleasant voice; Akiko nodded her reply. "Hello, Akiko. Shall we proceed?"

"Hello, Kikyou-sama. Yes, I am ready. Although, I was wondering… what is this going to be like?"

Kikyou shrugged. "It depends on what is possessing you and how much it wants to stay inside. From what I can tell, this shouldn't be too difficult. All I ask is that you sit here," she said, pointing to a mat in front of her.

She obeyed and sat down before the miko and the doctor. She saw Kikyou's gaze fall to her neck. "You have a shard of the Shikon Jewel?"

Akiko put her hand to where the jewel fragment glowed in a black light. "Yes, I do."

Kikyou nodded. "I should warn you that in the process of the exorcism, it might become purified."

"It's okay."

Kikyou nodded again, but did not comment on it anymore. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. She placed two of her fingers on Akiko's forehead and she felt the icy feeling of her possessor enter her body.

"What's going on?" Akiko asked nervously. After all, she was supposed to be getting rid of this demon or whatever it was.

As if she was reading her mind Kikyou responded, "In order to finish this evil force off, I need to draw him into incarnate." Akiko relaxed and allowed her to finish her job.

Kikyou said a prayer under her breath and touched the jewel shard in Akiko's neck. The darkness that enshrouded it, dissipated immediately and the shard became pure. It now glowed in a pinkish clear light. At the same time, Akiko felt her possessor leave her body. It was different than the other times it had just went away for a little while. It was like she knew it could never command her again.

She gasped as she finally saw what it was. A white, smoky, transparent figure floated weightlessly above the ground. It had long wispy hair and a bunch of white robes on. The glassy pupiless eyes that were sunken in to its pale face held anger in them.

"Damn you, wretch! Warusa is going to be cross with me now!" The, assumingly male, specter said to Kikyou. "I was the only thing that was making Akiko like him. And now… she's going to be angry." He looked nervously over at the dumbfounded ninja sitting only a foot away from him.

"And you are?" she snarled after a moment.

"The name's Chouyouma!" he replied happily. His happy disposition was quickly ended, however, when he appeared to have thought of something. "Wait, if Warusa is mad, just imagine how mad that Naraku will be!"

"Naraku?" the other three shouted in surprise. "Naraku is behind all this?"

Chouyouma made a noise that said he didn't mean to mention Naraku's name. "Heh, I mean… uh… Okay, you caught me. Naraku promised to make me powerful if I helped that incarnation of himself."

"This Warusa man is one of Naraku's incarnations?" Kikyou asked worriedly.

Chouyouma raised a wispy eyebrow. "Yeah, he is. And he is going to be really mad when he finds out I didn't make you fall in love with him," he said, gesturing toward Akiko. "I've got it! I'll stay with you."

Akiko gave him a death-glare. "I don't think so. Not after you make a deal with someone who framed me for betrayal and wants me dead. Then possess me so I'll marry one of his incarnations against my will."

Chouyouma smirked smugly. "You'd be surprised what you can find out about someone by seeing into their soul. I know your predicament and I can help you with problems. It's what I do."

"Is that so?" she asked, still in an angry tone even though she was kind of considering having this apparition around for a little while longer.

Kikyou sighed and got up. "My work here is complete. So long Suikotsu, Akiko, Chouyouma."

"Good-bye, Kikyou-sama," Suikotsu and Akiko said together. Chouyouma, who seemed to have a grudge against Kikyou for ruining his plans, said nothing.

After she had gone, he asked, "So, can I stay or not?"

Akiko glanced over at Suikotsu who seemed to have taken a liking to the strange ghost. "Do you want him to stay?"

She thought about it for a minute and was about to say 'no' when she heard a certain someone interject. "I like him. He may be useful too."

"Not to mention he is neat looking!" came another familiar voice from behind her.

Akiko turned around to see Bankotsu and Jakotsu walking through the door.

"We were listening to your exorcism," Bankotsu explained.

"Then so it is. I can stay," the annoying specter said happily, shrinking down to the size of a small dog and perched himself on Akiko's shoulder.

Ordinarily, Akiko would have made some sort of protest, but at the time, she just felt like throwing up and getting away from all the commotion. However, that plan was ruled out immediately ruled out when the owner of the strange building barged in.

"As much as I hate to interrupt your conversations," he said with strong hints of loathing in his voice toward Bankotsu, "I've just received a message from someone. You and your horde of killers have a job."

* * *

Author's Note: Woot! Thank you very much to all who review. (I've been forgetting to do that lately) Just so you know, Shouchuu is an actual Japanese drink. It's supposedly pretty strong. Never had it though so I can't tell you what it's like. Wareme is a derogatory name for someone. It roughly translates to something along the lines of 'cunt'. Also, sorry this one took longer than usual. I've been grounded for getting into a fight at school. Not to mention I've just been in this really weird/bad/apathetic mood lately… 


	16. The Death of Akiko & the Birth of Neikot

**Chapter Sixteen: The Death of Akiko and the Birth of Neikotsu**

Akiko gathered a bunch of her weapons and prepared herself for their next battle. She wasn't all that worried for it was only a small job- some daimyou wanted to get their enemy's village out of the way. She was actually kind of looking forward to it. Ever since Chouyouma had been with her, she found herself having violent feelings.

She sighed deeply, changing out of kimono and putting on her black ninja outfit with the red trim. She really did look like an assassin of darkness.

"Are you ready yet?" she heard a vague, echo-like voice say.

Chouyouma was floating off the ground right behind her. "Yeah, I'm ready. You're coming with us?" She still wasn't particularly fond of their newest acquaintance.

He shook his head as he said in a distant sort of way, "No, I'm not big on violence. I'll just hang around somewhere until you're done."

"Whatever," she said when something occurred to her. "How long have you been there?"

He gave her a careless smile and shrugged. "I suppose ever since you started changing."

Although Akiko's hangover had pretty much passed, she still was a bit edgy. "Get out," she hissed in a soft, but sinister voice.

Still smiling, the pale, transparent, being floated through the door. After he left, Akiko decided to follow and go search for everyone else. She was frustrated and needed some way to work off the tension. _'Might as well do it by slaughtering some people,' _

The battlefield was filled with soldiers. _'Great. That means there will be plenty for me to kill even after all of them are through,' _she thought, examining the situation.

"Attack!" Bankotsu shouted and all eight of them charged in to kill the people they were hired to kill.

Akiko wasted no time. She immediately pulled Dohanone out and began slicing up anyone who came in her vicinity. All she could see were the swords being swung at her, and the blood spraying from the wielders' bodies as she was too quick for them. Suddenly, no more people were attacking her. She looked around to see where all the enemies had gone, only to see her comrades smiling at her.

"W-what's wrong?" she asked them blankly.

Jakotsu laughed. "Jeez, you killed more than any of us. We're already done with this part of the battle."

"Yes. And now all we have to do is finish off the rest of their village," Bankotsu's sweet smile had become evil. "Let's move!" Obeying their leader, the Shichinintai headed toward the village; Akiko felt an adrenaline rush. She was really looking forward to massacring some more people.

As they approached the village, some men stood outside it, prepared to fend off those who tried to attack. Akiko quickly pulled out her kunai and threw them at the men. They all hit them dead-on. Some stabbed them through the throat, while others landed in their chests. Either way, they all fell over dead.

The Shichinintai stormed the village, killing everyone in their path. Akiko grabbed random weapons as she ruthlessly murdered the innocent people. She felt a sick kind of pleasure as she watched their slain bodies fall to the ground. Some of them still alive, about to die though, and others who were gone before they even hit the ground. All of them, though, died a sadistic, brutal, and bloody death.

She burst into huts where some of the villagers tried to hide. Unfortunately for them, Akiko found every single one and not caring if they were man, woman, or child, killed them all.

When there was no one left, she realized that she had been laughing. An insane smile still spread across her face. _'What am I doing? I really _am _turning into Jakotsu. What is wrong with me? Is it because I…' _It suddenly dawned on her- she had always been this way. Even before her family was killed. She remembered back to how even as a child, she harbored a feeling of violent hatred toward people.

'_But why is it just coming back now? Maybe it had something to do with dying. No… It wasn't that. True, my body died at the hot spring, but my soul died over ten years ago with everything I loved. Perhaps… because I feel love towards someone again, my sadistic side has returned._

'_To be honest, I think I like myself this way. At first, I thought my thirst for revenge is what drove me to live. I don't know why I didn't kill myself that day, but I know neither my body, nor soul is still alive. _

'_So what keeps me here on this earth? It must be because of Bankotsu. That's why I didn't die! It's destined that I be with him. I don't really care about avenging my family- I just want to be with him. Not dying, training to become strong enough to join the Shichinintai, not wanting to kill them. I am destined to become a killer. _

'_It is settled then. I realize now that I am dead. And so I will remain until I die for good alongside my friends. My soul is filled with anger and hatred, but it is directed toward people in general. My family dying was just what set me off. It is what killed my soul, but enabled it to be free as well.'_

"Something wrong?" Bankotsu asked as he saw the odd combination of insanity, happiness, sadness, and lifelessness on her expression as she gazed off into the distance.

"Umm… No, I am fine. Is everyone dead?"

Without answering her question, he smiled normally again and turned to lead her to the rest of their comrades. The walk back was gruesome. Heaps of bodies, clumps of gore, and puddles of blood filled the road.

"We have something to tell you," he said happily.

"And that is?" she asked with uncertainty.

Jakotsu smirked as he said, "We've been watching you, and we've decided that you are finally an actual member of the Shichinintai!"

Akiko, who was still a bit caught up in her discovery about her purpose in life, didn't catch on too quickly. "I thought I was already a member."

"Well," Renkotsu said, "You then were just someone who was an ally of ours. You now are officially one of the Shichinintai."

"Oh. Well, thank you."

Ginkotsu made his usual 'gesh' noises and spoke. "You get a –kotsu name. What do you want it to be?"

Akiko thought about this for a moment. Akkotsu? No, that didn't sound right. She looked at Jakotsutou and Banryuu. Dokotsu? No, that wouldn't work either. She began to think of words that described her.

'_I get to start life anew. This is the beginning of what the rest of my life will be like. I need to think up a word that would accurately describe the new me. Wickedness. I like the sound of that. My name can be Neikanhidoku. Hmm… Neikanhidokukotsu. Doesn't exactly roll of the tongue. Eh, what the hell. I'll just make it-'_

"Neikotsu. My new name is Neikotsu," she told them.

"Very well, Neikotsu. Welcome to the Shichinintai. Glad to see you've gotten the demonic markings already," Bankotsu said.

"Demonic markings?" She stared at her reflection in a puddle of crimson blood. There on her face were pale blue markings. They started at the bottom of her face and went up her cheeks. Blue markings were on her eyelids and curved on the side of her eyes, which gave her an evil look. She had to admit- she kind of liked being Neikotsu, having these markings, and being evil.

Being nothing more than a dead body, which had a sole purpose to kill, she stood with the others who were like her. She no longer wanted them dead, but instead felt a feeling of love toward all of them.

Neikotsu knew that as far as she was concerned, she never had a past. She was now and forever Neikotsu. Akiko died ten years ago and the girl in between that time was no one at all. Maybe at one time she felt things like remorse or sadness, but from now on, that would not happen.

* * *

Author's Note: Damn it! This chapter didn't turn out how I hoped it would. I probably shouldn't have put off writing it for so long. I had the idea quite a while back, but didn't write it down and I think it came out kind of weird. Well anyhow, review and tell me if you think it was good. I may re-write it when I can concentrate better. 


	17. Alone for the Night

**Chapter Seventeen: Alone for the Night**

The Shichinintai were around a fire, celebrating Akiko's joining of the group. She figured that it was probably more for them than it was for her, but she didn't mind. She was still thinking about what it would be like being a permanent member of the seven-man army.

"Bankotsu?" the now named Neikotsu said to her leader, just thinking of something.

"Yeah?" was his somewhat drunken reply.

"Are we going to be called the Shichinintai still?"

Bankotsu pondered that for a second before saying, "Well, Hatsunintai sounds kind of weird, and we are already known as the Shichinintai, so I guess we'll keep our name. You don't mind do you?"

"No," she said truthfully. "Just wondering."

Chouyouma had joined back up with them. For some reason, it seemed that they already liked him even though they hardly knew the shifty ghost. He hadn't left Neikotsu alone since he declared he'd stay with her. She found him rather annoying, but tolerated him and had to admit, he wasn't all that bad. Even Renkotsu didn't seem too upset to have Chouyouma there.

Neikotsu smiled to herself as she watched everyone celebrate. She would have joined in on the fun, but remembering how horrible she felt the last time she drank, she decided to sit this one out.

**MEANWHILE**

Naraku sat in his castle. He was watching an image through Kanna's mirror. "Enjoy your celebrating, for it shall be the last enjoyable thing that will ever happen to you," Naraku said with an evil laugh as he watched the group of mercenaries.

"Naraku, everything is ready. Do you want me to send the soldiers now?" said a short, small, red, scaly dragon.

The hanyou chuckled evilly. "Yes, Kageyu, that sounds good. Soon I will have the shards of the Shikon Jewel that are rightfully mine. Just wait until I set those fools up like the first time they died. I'm sure Bankotsu is naive enough to fall into that trap twice."

"Actually," the traitorous dragon interrupted, "I was thinking and I believe that Bankotsu may find some way to fight back. And I know Akiko all too well. She would not die so easily. Perhaps we can let the two of them find out about their friends after we kill them and let that be their trap. When the eight of them are together they are too powerful, but if we spilt them up and lure them here with anger, then maybe we can beat them."

Naraku considered this and finally said with once again an evil laugh, "Yes, that sounds very good indeed. Now, go send the messenger."

With a bow, Kageyu turned and left Naraku. With a motion of his hand, Kanna left Naraku to enjoy his plots of death.

**THE SHICHININTAI**

It was the next morning and everyone was still tired. They had wound up staying up until dawn. The thing that awoken them was the sound of horses approaching. There were about ten men all led by a mean looking daimyo.

"Are ye the ones who call themselves the Shichinintai?" the daimyo asked, with an equally mean voice.

"We are," Renkotsu said with strong annoyance. He wasn't much of a morning person anyway.

The rough-looking man's expression showed that he was not very happy to be greeted with such disrespect, but most likely because of fear, didn't say anything. "The lot of you are requested to come to our land and defeat our enemies. Will ye come?"

Bankotsu sighed heavily. "I suppose. Of course I want to be sure that-"

"I'm sorry," the daimyo said interrupting Bankotsu in a rude manner, "but yourself and the ninja have been said to cause problems for people, so the two of ye have not been asked."

"What!" Bankotsu and Jakotsu shouted. "I am the leader!" Bankotsu exclaimed as Jakotsu said with the same furiousness, "He's our leader!"

"I'll make it worth while. I'll pay ye the same and even more so. In fact, ye name the price, and I'll pay it."

_'Paid as much as we want?' _Renkotsu thought. _'Sounds like a trap. Bankotsu better have learned his lesson the first time and not agree to this.'_

Bankotsu settled down some. "Getting paid without having to do any work huh? And as much as we want? Not really something I'd do, but what the hell. Sure, the two of us will stay behind."

Renkotsu couldn't believe it. _'What? That fucking moron! Does he not remember what happened the last time? And he's agreeing to this without even coming along? Oh well, it doesn't matter. We can defeat them if it's a trap. Even if Bankotsu isn't there.'_

"Bankotsu no Oo-Aniki!" Jakotsu whined sadly. "Pweease?"

Bankotsu smirked and said, "They won't let me. Not much I can do. Besides, think about it, Jakotsu. We get paid whatever we want."

Knowing he was defeated, Jakotsu sighed and with one last sad look at his best friend, turned to leave with everyone else who was asked to go with the daimyo and his men.

"How long will this take?" Suikotsu asked, as they were getting ready to leave.

"About a day to get there, a day to get back, and judging by your reputation a day to kill everyone. So I suppose about three days altogether.

Neikotsu and Bankotsu waved to their comrades as they departed for their destination. As they walked further and further away, Neikotsu started to feel nervous. Never before had she and Bankotsu been alone together. Well, without the rest of the Shichinintai somewhere around.

When they were completely out of sight, the two remained in an uncomfortable silence. It lasted for about a minute before Bankotsu broke the silence saying, "Well. Alone for three days. What do you wanna do?"

Her nervousness got worse and she blurted out the first thing that came to her. "Are you hungry? Because I am."

Bankotsu gave her a lazy shrug as she mentally kicked herself for sounding so stupid. _'What was that! 'Are you hungry'? I don't think I could have come up with anything stupider than THAT! Now what do I say?' _

"I'll go make us some breakfast," Neikotsu said, wanting to get away from him for a moment. She quickly stalked off to find something and wasn't sure if he said anything, but she figured he was too caught off-guard by her stupidity to respond.

Neikotsu trekked through the woods, gathering a few things she thought would be good to eat. Growing up, being raised by Master Kensei, she often had to find her own food so she did know some about cooking.

Returning about a half an hour later, she met Bankotsu sitting down near the fire, waiting to eat. Avoiding his glance at her, she sat down across the other side of their campsite. With her back turned to him, she took a knife out of her outfit and began cutting up some of the fruits she had found.

Even though she had her back turned to him, Neikotsu could feel his eyes boring into her. _'Is he mad? Was that stupid remark dumb enough to make him mad at me? Gah! BAKA!' _she thought angrily, chopping their "breakfast" up faster.

Bankotsu watched every movement that Neikotsu made. He wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but she seemed to be upset about something. _'She's been even quieter than usual lately. I hope that guy didn't hurt her feelings when he said she couldn't go with the rest of the Shichinintai. Nah, that wouldn't make her act this way. Could it have been what I said? When I asked her what she wanted to do, did she think I was asking her if she wanted to…? No! It can't be that. Maybe it has something to do with becoming the new member. If I ask her, I could upset her. How can I figure out which one is causing her to act like this? …Maybe I could…? No!' _Bankotsu thought, blushing at his last idea.

Neikotsu could hear Bankotsu walking up to her, but didn't acknowledge his presence. She could feel that something was wrong, and she didn't know what to do.

At first, Bankotsu didn't do anything; he just stood there watching her. Then, without warning, he slipped his arms around her waist. She stopped cutting for a second, but then started again when he rested his head on her shoulder.

"What are we going to be eating?" he asked softly.

"I don't know."

Bankotsu chuckled, but didn't move at all.

_'My clever, witty charm certainly knows no bounds,' _Neikotsu thought bitterly. _'Still… why is he doing this?'_

Bankotsu lifted his head off her shoulder and whispered rather gruffly in her ear, "I'm not hungry. Let's do something else." After he had spoken he moved down to her neck and kissed and bit it softly.

Neikotsu was frozen where she stood. Unable to say anything or move a muscle. Shivers went up and down her spine as his lips and teeth gently brushed her neck. Bankotsu let go of her waist just long enough to remove her hands from her knife and what she had been slicing with it, and then returned back to let his hands rest on her hips.

"Bankotsu…" she finally managed to say. Though, he ignored her and started to kiss her more roughly.

"Do you remember that night that you were drunk?" he asked quietly in between kisses.

"I don't remember exactly what happened," Neikotsu uttered nervously. _'Oh no! What did I do? What if I? What if we…?'_

"Want me to tell you?" She nodded unsurely. "You said you loved me, then you kissed me. And then you…"

_'No! I can't believe I could do something so unforgivable! I got drunk and… and…"_

"puked," Bankotsu finished his sentence. "Then you fell asleep. My point is that you said that you loved me."

Not sure how to respond to this she said, "What was your reply?"

He laughed. "What do you think my reply was?" When Neikotsu didn't say anything, Bankotsu continued. "The reason I am telling you this is because I wanted to know if you said it because you were drunk, or because you meant it."

Neikotsu didn't know what to say. On one hand she could destroy her chance to stay with the Shichinintai if he knew how she felt about him, but on the other hand, he could return her feelings and she could break his heart, and lose him completely.

"I really meant it," she said, her voice very evident to the nervousness she felt.

"Good," Bankotsu whispered, "because I meant it when I said I loved you too."

"I…" was all she could say before he turned her head to face him and kissed her in a rough, but gentle way. She resisted at first, but slowly calmed down and kissed him in return. His hand moved down her right thigh and brushed open her kimono where it was closed to her bare skin. He pulled her closer to him as his hand slid up the side of her leg. Before Bankotsu got to the very top of her thigh, Neikotsu pulled away.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright. …Do you want me to finish making breakfast?" Bankotsu nodded and went back to where he sat before as Neikotsu went back to slicing up their breakfast. They ate in silence, not looking each other in the eye.

_'That was strange. Why did Bankotsu do that to me? My heart is still beating like crazy from it. This is going to be a fun three days,' _Neikotsu thought miserably. _'Alone with Bankotsu while he knows that I'm in love with him.'_

Bankotsu was thinking about what had happened as well. _'So it's settled- she was acting strange because she's in love with me and she felt weird being alone with me for three days. Haha, this should be fun,' _he smirked.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, yes. I know, I know. Bankotsu's been acting OOC here, but that's how I needed him to act for this chapter. I've tried rewriting chapter sixteen and I just can't find the inspiration to write it well. My last attempt was even worse than the first. So, until then, _The Death of Akiko and the Birth of Neikotsu_ will stay how it is. Also, I am so sorry it has taken me so long to update. These past few Fridays (which is the day I type everything up) I have been really busy. I'll try and get on the computer more often. 'Till then, review, M'loves! 


	18. Storm

**Chapter Eighteen: Storm**

Neikotsu nervously kept looking at the sun. It was setting quickly and she was dreading every second of it.

"Neikotsu, it's starting to get dark. With just the two of us, we should probably find somewhere safe to stay," Bankotsu said, right as she was watching the sun.

She fidgeted nervously before replying, "Where did you have in mind?"

He sighed and scratched his head innocently. "There's a hut near here. According to Mukotsu, when the family that lived there heard we were around, they fled. So, that means we could stay there."

Neikotsu shrugged and said quietly, "Sounds good."

_'What's wrong with her?' _Bankotsu thought as she left to get her belongings ready. _'…Oh! I get it! Keh, don't flatter yourself, Nei-chan. I'm not going to be persistent. Wait… Nei-chan? That's not too bad. I wonder if she's mind if I called her that. I don't think she would. I heard Jakotsu call her Imouto once, and she didn't seem to care.' _

"I'm ready to go," Neikotsu said, pulling Bankotsu out of his rambling thoughts.

"Me too. Let's move on out then, Nei-chan." He paused for a second to see what her reaction would be.

Neikotsu, caught a bit off-guard by the nickname, stared blankly for a moment. "I'm coming… Ban-kun."

The mercenary leader laughed and walked through a thicket of trees up ahead. Still confused as to what was going on, Neikotsu followed close behind. _'Damn it! Stay focused, Aki- Err… Neikotsu. Bankotsu hasn't done anything to indicate he expected _something _to happen for hours. Almost the entire day in fact. It's not as if he would really ever love me. I'm not exactly trophy wife material here.' _She sighed in annoyance at herself and closed her eyes as she walked, letting her subconscious do the guiding.

As Neikotsu silently trudged along through the forest on a roughly beaten path, she began to calm down. _'Besides… Bankotsu seems like he'd be a bit too innocent to do something like that. Probably best not to underestimate him, though. Ack! What am I thinking? I'm not good enough for Bankotsu. He probably has just been going along with that whole "I love you" scene so I won't leave the Shichinintai. Why must life be so complex? It sure would help if we had some kind of guide to show us the right way.'_

Still keeping her eyes shut, Neikotsu continued her thoughts on Bankotsu. Meanwhile, Bankotsu was busy thinking about problems of his own. _'I'm hungry. I probably should have eaten more for breakfast. Apparently the woman doesn't cook unless she's uncomfortable with a situation. Maybe I should… Nah. I'll break out all the romantic shit and whatnot later on tonight. Neikotsu has been really quiet, I wonder what she's up to back there.' _

Bankotsu turned around to see what she was doing. She was falling behind some, but no wonder- she had her eyes closed. She appeared to be either deep in thought or really relaxed, so he decided not to disturb her unless she was really moving slow.

With her eyes shut, Neikotsu's other instincts were becoming stronger. _'That smell. It's going to rain soon.' _Sure enough, as she opened her eyes, she saw thick, gray clouds forming overhead. They were beginning to block out the clear orange-yellowish light casting from the setting sun. "Bankotsu, are we almost there. I don't want to be stuck in the forest at night while it's raining."

"Hmm? Oh," he looked up to notice the thick blanket of gray covering the sky. "Not too much farther. It looks like the storm is moving quickly, though, so we better hurry."

Neikotsu nodded and ran quickly to catch up with Bankotsu. It was getting darker by the second. The trees surrounding them were not making it easy to see, either. She raced quickly on the path. If you could call it that. By now it was mostly just patted down grass and tree roots made by animals or small demons. Suddenly, Neikotsu felt her foot slide down into a hole in the ground as her ankle twisted. For a brief second she heard a 'crack' then she fell down. At first she felt numbed, but in even less time than it took to hear the 'crack' did the pain come.

"What's wrong?" Bankotsu asked when he saw that she fell. Neikotsu bit her bottom lip as she removed her foot from the hole. Without even seeing her ankle, she knew it was broken. She could feel it swelling already.

"M-my ankle. It's broken," she managed to say through the pain of it. Without another word, Bankotsu picked her up gently and carried her on his back. It was a bit difficult at first seeing as how he had to carry Banryuu too, but he was resourceful and managed to balance everything out evenly.

"I'm sorry," Neikotsu said as it started to rain. Bankotsu had to slow his run down to a fast walk and they didn't make it to their shelter in time.

Bankotsu turned his neck to smile sweetly at her and said, "No need to be. Not your fault. I shouldn't have made you run. This place is too damn wooded."

Neikotsu nodded and rested her head on his back. The back edge of his armor was digging into her chest, but it wasn't nearly as bad as having her ankle dangling and being hit by twigs and tree branches that they passed.

After a few excruciatingly painful moments, Bankotsu lead them into the home of the people who abandoned it, and lightly set her down. He exhaled loudly and leaned Banryuu against the wall. "Let me see it," he said shortly.

Obeying his demand, Neikotsu untied the cloth wrappings around her sandals and took her tabi sock off, as well as the other one, just for the heck of it. Bankotsu examined how swollen her ankle was and the purplish blue bruise that was already visible. "You're right. It's definitely broken." He picked up her foot and set it in his lap. "Sorry, but I have to do it. Ready?"

She bit her lip again and clenched her fists. In one quick snap and one pain-filled yelp, her bone was back in place.

Bankotsu looked into her eyes to see if they showed any trace of pain. "You okay?"

"Terrific," came her dull, bitter reply. "…Thank you," she added sincerely realizing she sounded kind of shrewish.

Bankotsu scoffed a "You're welcome" and sat down across from her. He was drenched and mud had splattered on him from running and dragging along Banryuu. He sighed as he removed his armor and shirt.

Neikotsu stared at his muscular arms and chest and then at his face. His usual carefree look was taken over by one of worry and aggravation as he laid out his haori to dry. His long, wet, black bangs hung down past his eyes and clung to his handsome face. Feeling her face grow warm with a blush, Neikotsu focused on the pain of her injury and looked away.

"Here," he said, scooting closer to her. He took the red sash he used to tie around his waist and wrapped it tightly around her ankle. "Not too tight, is it? If I don't do something, it won't heal properly. This is the best I can do for the time being. I'll have Suikotsu mend the bone when he gets back. I don't think it's something to worry about, but it should also be checked for mortification. Does it hurt bad right now?"

Neikotsu shook and said shyly, "It's fine."

"That's good. I feel bad, Nei-chan. It's my fault this happened. What do you want me to do to make it up to you?"

She blushed deeper as she said even quieter, "nothing. It wasn't your fault." _'No! Not now! Please don't let him be all cute and sweet to me. I'm too stressed right now to worry about what he's thinking.'_

Bankotsu, however, was determined to show her he was sorry. _'She's so cute when she acts like this. I've mostly just seen her act kind of bitter and hateful. I bet I can get her to lighten up some.'_

"Here," he said moving so he was behind her. "I'll help you relax. I've been known to give one hell of a massage. However, seeing as how other than my brothers I'm never really worried about other people, so I don't have a chance to show off my skill."

"Bankotsu…" Neikotsu said as he took off her wet kimono to reveal her under one. "Really, you don't need to. I'm fine. I'll feel better if you ju-" She stopped in mid-sentence at how nicely Bankotsu massaged her shoulders. She began to relax. Her tense body went limp immediately.

Bankotsu smirked loudly. "Ha! I told you it'd be enjoyable." She responded with silence and he inconspicuously pushed her under-kimono slightly down her shoulders. He pushed it lower and lower off of her until Neikotsu grabbed the front to keep it closed.

"Sorry," he said in a pleasant way, but not like he really meant it.

After debating what to do for a moment, she gulped and let go of her under-kimono so it slid all the way down to her waist. She bent her head down so her long hair covered the embarrassment in her face. With her bangs down over her eyes, she didn't notice when Bankotsu moved so he was facing her.

Neikotsu went to cross her arms in front of her chest, but Bankotsu pinned them at her sides and kissed her roughly. She didn't resist and slowly he lowered her to the floor.

Neikotsu slowly opened her eyes as light hit them. She had been sleeping against Bankotsu's chest. She got up from the covers they were sleeping under and pulled her clothes back on. Without waking Bankotsu, she went outside to get some fresh air.

The morning air was thick and heavy. The rain from the previous night made everything damp and sticky out. Neikotsu fanned herself with her hand as she hobbled out to go find some water to drink.

_'Well, that didn't go according to plan. I wanted to not let my relationship with Bankotsu get very complicated. So, I wound up having sex with him.' _She sighed deeply. _'Now what? I'm going to have to go back and see him. I really hope everyone gets back soon. It's a bit too weird for me- to have someone care like Bankotsu does. I suppose I should make the most of my time alone with him. Oh hey, a stream,' _She thought, coming upon a clear, shallow stream. She cupped her hands and took a long drink of water.

As Neikotsu returned to the abandoned hut, she saw Bankotsu just awakening.

"Where the hell were you?" he asked sleepily, sitting up.

She shrugged sheepishly as she replied, "Just went to go get some water."

"How's your ankle. I didn't hurt it last night, did I?" Neikotsu shook her head. "Oh, good. So… We still have two entire days and nights, do you want to-" Bankotsu got silent.

"Something wrong?"

"Shhh, listen. Do you hear it?"

She listened carefully to see if she could hear what Bankotsu did. And sure enough, there was a familiar stomping sound that she recognized easily as Ginkotsu's gait. "They're back already?"

Bankotsu quickly pulled on his clothes and fixed his hair. "Looks like it. Guess we won't have any more time together. For now, anyway." With a somewhat disappointed sigh, he said, "Let's go before they try to find us. Of course, considering we can hear Ginkotsu from here, I assume their already looking."

About half way back they could see Kyoukotsu towering over everyone else. They waved and soon enough, caught up with them.

"Hey, what are you guys doing back so soon?" Bankotsu cheerily asked his returned comrades.

Renkotsu glared hatefully at the young leader. "It was a trap set by Naraku. It's a good thing I suspected something before the attack, otherwise we'd be dead."

"Oh? Well, sorry I accepted. Did you kill everyone?"

Suikotsu grunted uneasily. "No, we never even got there. We were about half way there before we managed torture it out of that guy to tell us it was a trap."

"That means we don't get paid, right? Damn it."

Suddenly, Chouyouma appeared by them. "Yeah, that isn't very good. Luckily, you have me! I knew what that guy was doing from the start. I stole his money before you guys left."

"What?" Neikotsu asked.

Chouyouma smiled ear to ear. "No, dear girl, I was here the entire time. Remember? You did see me, didn't you?"

Neikotsu felt a mix of panic and embarrassment got through her. He knew.

"I knew you were there. Eh, you know how she is: not all the way there," Bankotsu lied, but to his and Neikotsu's relief, it was believed by everyone else.

"Keh!" Jakotsu said loudly, "like I'd trust _her _to be alone with Bankotsu no Oo-Aniki for three days alone."

The ghost laughed as he assured Jakotsu, "Yeah, you never know how manipulative she could be."

"Uh, I can hear you," Neikotsu growled agitatedly. "By the way," she said to direct the subject in another direction, "How _did _you know that we were being deceived by that guy?"

"Huh?" he asked with a blank stare. "Oh, that. Well when I was helping Warusa and Naraku there was this dragon who was telling me his plan. I was going to tell you, but I figured I'd give you something to do."

Renkotsu didn't seem to find this particularly funny, but the rest of the mercenaries weren't very mad, so the subject was dropped and the new quest was to find some breakfast.

As everyone else walked ahead, Neikotsu stopped Chouyouma. "Thank you for not saying anything."

"Well, what can I say? It was too fun to watch to have Jakotsu kill you over it."

Neikotsu blushed and was pretty angry, but remembered what else she wanted to say. "That dragon you mentioned… what was his name?"

"I believe it was Kageyu, if my memory serves me correctly."

This wasn't too surprising, but Neikotsu couldn't deny that she was a bit hurt that her former best friend wanted her dead.

* * *

Author's Note:

Imouto- Little Sister.

Sorry this took so long. I could have finished it by Friday night, but I was watching Full Metal Jacket and couldn't concentrate. Heh… Were you expecting something a bit more graphic for the Bankotsu/Neikotsu scene? Sorry about that, too. I was going to make it better, but I had lemon-writer's block and it sucked, so I just gave the hint of it. I know, I know, I've been having writers block a lot lately, but I've been pretty busy and haven't really had time to concentrate. I promise to write the next chapter soon.


	19. Down the Bone Eater's Well

**Chapter Nineteen: Down the Bone-Eater's Well**

"Hmm… Yes, that should do it," said the kindhearted doctor Suikotsu. He finished bandaging up her ankle. He had placed hard boards around it and wrapped it up tightly. Neikotsu couldn't bend it whatsoever. It annoyed her a bit, but she understood why it had to be, so instead of complaining, thanked Suikotsu gratefully.

"No problem, Neikotsu. Glad to help you," he said pleasantly as he packed up his bone-mending equipment.

She sat inside a cozy hut by herself for the first time since she could remember. It felt peaceful and having not gotten any sleep the previous night, thought she'd take it easy for a while.

However, she only was able to relax for a minute before Renkotsu came through the door. "That dragon who was with you when we first met- how much does he know about us?"

"Huh?" Neikotsu asked, surprised to see the pyromaniac second-in-command.

"Chouyouma told me that that damn bastard dragon friend of yours was the one who came up with the plan to kill us. How much does he know about us? Enough that he could come up with another plan?" Renkotsu said sharply.

"Well, he didn't spend much time here, so I don't think he knows too much…." She said softly. For some reason, she was still kind of on edge whenever she was around Renkotsu. She figured because he was the only one (besides Jakotsu, who pretty much only disliked her because she was a woman and hung around Bankotsu) who didn't want her around.

With this slight reassurance, Renkotsu calmed down some. "Oh… okay." As if being able to sense her discomfort he sighed slightly and said, "Neikotsu… it's not as if I don't like you. It's just that I don't warm up to people easily. Hell, I've known the Shichinintai for years and Ginkotsu's still about the only one I trust. So… just thought I'd tell you not to take it personally."

Neikotsu shifted uneasily, her broken bone starting to hurt under pressure. "Thank you, Renkotsu no Aniki. I am sorry. I haven't been the most polite to you, either." She managed to smile, despite how weird it felt to talk to Renkotsu like this.

He didn't return her smile, but said as nicely as he could, "Thanks. I hope your ankle feels better. If you'd like, I can have Ginkotsu take you wherever you want to go so you won't have to walk on it."

Neikotsu smiled again, contrary to her usual nature and replied, "Thank you." She felt she should have said more, but Renkotsu didn't even give her a chance as he got up suddenly and began to head for the door.

As he left, Bankotsu walked in. When they stepped past each other, she saw them glance at each other hatefully. But once he saw his beloved Neikotsu, he smiled like usual and sat down by her. "How's it going?" he asked casually.

"Just wonderful," she said resting her hand on her leg that was locked in entropy from the knee down.

Bankotsu wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him tightly. "Bankotsu… what was up with Renkotsu? Does he really like me, or was he just saying that?"

Bankotsu stiffened some as he said dryly, "…Yeah…"

"Yeah to which of those questions?"

"It doesn't matter…."

"Uh… okay. Is something wrong with you two?"

Bankotsu tightened his grip on her and sighed. "Not at all."

Neikotsu knew there was something wrong, but decided that was between him and Renkotsu and she couldn't pry any deeper. "Haven't seen you since we met back up with everyone," she said merrily, trying to lighten the mood.

His hand fell from her waist and brushed past her butt, sending chills up her spine. "Heh, I know," he smirked. "I've had to deal with Chouyouma and Jakotsu's accusations of what went on while he was away." Bankotsu chuckled softly and Neikotsu blushed knowing why.

"What did you tell them?"

"What do you _think _I told them?"

Neikotsu was content with his response and didn't question any further.

"Well," Bankotsu said standing up. "I have some work to do. We're going to attack InuYasha pretty soon. I have some preparations to make."

"InuYasha? You mean that dog hanyou? How come?" she asked, recalling her battle with him and his friends quite a while back.

"It's a long story; not too important. I have vengeance to obtain and I want it done quickly. We'll be attacking tomorrow maybe. By any chance, you wouldn't mind sneaking to their village and spying on them tonight, would you? Find out if that damn half-breed has any new attacks. It's not really something I like to do, but I don't want to go into battle with any surprises."

Neikotsu thought it over a moment and replied, "Sure, I'll spy on them. But, it may be a bit difficult. I won't be able to walk quietly like I usually can and with Ginkotsu making so much noise when he walks, InuYasha would be able to hear it."

"If you think you can do it, go ahead. Set out tonight at dusk."

----------------------------------

After secretly kissing Bankotsu goodnight and saying bye to her comrades, Neikotsu headed out to the village where Bankotsu claimed the Inu-Tachi was. After only a while her ankle began to hurt some. Even with the solid boards of Suikotsu's doctoring binding it.

_'Damn. I need some place to rest,' _she thought as she trudged further along. The woods she walked through weren't as primitive as the ones she had been in before, but it was, once again, dark. She could only barely read the directions to the village Renkotsu had written for her. _'I really hope I'm going in the right direction. That's all I need- to get lost in this place while the enemy could be somewhere around.'_

To Neikotsu's relief, she spotted a clearing straight up ahead. She quickly walked up to it where the moon shone brightly enough to read the directions. She took a seat on an old dry well that stood in the clearing to view the piece of paper and figure out where she was.

--------------------

"Do you think she'll be okay, Oo-Aniki?" Mukotsu asked, mixing some highly toxic poisons for the next day.

"She did look like she was in pain earlier. What if she is caught by InuYasha or that wolf Koga?" Kyoukotsu asked while ripping apart his dinner: an ogre-like demon that had been lurking around.

"Yeah," Jakotsu scoffed. "What if?"

Bankotsu sighed softly as he said, "Don't worry, she'll be okay. Besides, I don't think they would kill her. They're a bit too… merciful. Not that that's bad considering Neikotsu's life is on the line."

-----------------------

"Yes… this looks about right. Mm-hmm…." Neikotsu said quietly to herself as she figured out where she was. Still trying to pinpoint exactly where she was, she leaned back some in frustration. Farther and farther until: SPLAT.

"Oww…" she moaned after she realized what had happened. "Well that was stupid. To fall in the well like that. Now how am I going to get back out? I suppose I could…." Her sentence was halted when she saw some strange pinkish light coming from below her.

Kneeling down to see what was happening, the light got brighter and the bottom of the well began to disappear. "W-what's happening?" she asked aloud as she began to go through the well.

Neikotsu was now falling through the pink light. The further down she went, the more the pink light faded into a dark blue. It was almost like water, but she could breathe. When she looked above her, she could still see the bottom of the well. However, it was quite a ways up. Thinking maybe this light really was like water, she tried to swim up, only to not doing anything except sinking lower and lower.

In every direction she looked there was nothing but blackish blue in the distance and a light blue all around her. She couldn't even see the bottom of the dry well anymore. _'What is going on? Am I going to die here? Be stuck here forever? What is this place?' _she thought. But to her surprise she could see the pink light returning. And sure enough the pink turned to a pale light and dimmed. Now, Neikotsu sat at the bottom of a dark well.

_'What the hell was that? It was so weird. Did I hit my head or something on the way down here? Probably. Well, I suppose I should try and get out of here. That creped me out enough.'_

Neikotsu stood up and tried to find something to grip to climb out of the old well. To her surprise she found a ladder. _'That's strange. Who'd climb down here? Maybe… I didn't hit my head. Maybe this well does something…' _

Climbing out was much easier than she thought it would be which made her happy, but what was unsettling was that she was no longer in the woods. It appeared to be some kind of storage room. Neikotsu walked up the steps and pulled open the door, not knowing what to expect.

_'A shrine? That well leads to some shrine? I wonder what's here…' _Deciding it would be okay to take a short intermission from her duty of spying, she figured it would be okay to walk around. She came upon a strange looking home. It was much larger than a hut, but much smaller than a castle. _'An inn maybe? It still looks kind of strange. And what would an inn be doing on a shrine? I suppose I'll just stay here for the night. This is too strange not to investigate. I'm sure Bankotsu would understand. Besides… I don't know for sure if the well would take me back home. Yes, I'll stay here.'_

Neikotsu was about to open the odd looking doors when I young boy came out. He was carrying a large black bag of some kind. He was a weird looking boy. His hair was short and in a peculiar style, his clothes didn't even look Japanese although he appeared not to be a foreigner.

The boy looked Neikotsu up and down then said, "Hey! Kagome told me you wore a black ninja-like outfit. You must be Sango, then?"

"Sango?" she asked. _'Sango… Where have I heard that name? Oh! She is a friend of InuYasha's. Kagome must be that one weird looking girl who was with him. So, this is where that girl is from. Is this some kind of different world? This boy must be… her brother? And he thinks I'm his sister's friend. I bet I can pull through with the mission after all. I can get all the information I need out of this kid._

"Umm… Yes. I am Sango," she said kindly.

The boy smiled happily. "It's great to meet you! I'm Kagome's little brother Sota. Hang on, I'll show you around as soon as I take this trash out!"

Sota came back a second later and grabbed Neikotsu by the hand, pulling her inside the "inn".

"Welcome," he told her as he shut the door behind her. "Sis said she'd be home tomorrow. How come you didn't just come with her then?"

"I, uhh, just couldn't wait," she lied quickly. She was not paying too much attention to the boy, Sota, for she was busy looking at her surroundings. It was as light as day inside. The light seemed to be coming from some sort of object.

Sota noticed her staring. "That's a lamp. Here, I'll show you some more things we use in 2005."

"In what? 2005?" she asked, not liking the sounds of this.

"Yeah. You know, the Present. Sis told you that's what year she's from, didn't she? I swear, she can be such a scatter brain sometimes…"

"2005," Neikotsu repeated. _'That well took me over 500 years into the future!' _

Suddenly, someone came into the room, crying. "Hey, I'm home early. That JERK InuYasha said he could pick up the scent of Kikyou! How could he do something like that? I mean, I was right there and he mentioned her! He has NO regards for my feelings at all! So I made him sit and I just had to come home. …Who are you?"

There stood the girl Neikotsu remembered seeing during the fight with InuYasha. The girl she assumed had to be- Kagome.

* * *

Author's Note: Yay! I was home sick today so I had time to finish this chapter now. Not much to say. Thanks a bunch to those who review and please continue. Confrontation between Kagome and Neikotsu & the Shichinintai and the Inu-Tachi next chapter. Stay tuned! 


	20. Hostage

**Chapter Twenty: Hostage**

"You're…." Kagome said, dumbfounded. She did not expect to ever see anyone from the Feudal Era in her time except InuYasha. "…That girl who was with the Shichinintai," she finished.

Neikotsu nodded slowly. She did not trust this girl. Neikotsu figured she couldn't be too dangerous judging from their last encounter when the girl, Kagome, depended on her friends to help her.

_'Maybe she was no threat in my time, but she might have a few tricks up her sleeve in her own time,' _Neikotsu though. _'Of course I shouldn't let her know that. If I can kill her quickly enough, perhaps I'll make it back to Normal Time unscathed.'_

"Hey!" Kagome yelled. "You have a Shikon Jewel shard in your neck! Give that back!" she picked up her bow and arrow that were laying on the floor beside her and aimed one at Neikotsu.

"No way," Neikotsu said sharply, pulling out her good old, reliable Dohanone. "The Shichinintai stole it fair and square, so it belongs to us now."

Kagome shot an arrow, which missed Neikotsu by a mile, and crashed through a window. The schoolgirl shrieked and pointed another arrow. However, as she let go of it and it headed toward Neikotsu, Dohanone cut the arrow in half and it disintegrated in mid-air.

_'This girl may be someone InuYasha cares about. I bet taking her hostage would make up for getting sidetracked and coming here. And even if InuYasha doesn't care about her, I can always just kill her.' _

Neikotsu moved quickly enough so Kagome could not pull out another arrow and used her index and middle finger to jab her hard in the throat. Her old trick she learned way back when she wasn't strong enough to fight to defend herself worked as Kagome fell to the floor, incapacitated. Sota stood dead still, terrified that the kunoichi was going to hurt, or kill, him.

**MEANWHILE**

"Damn hanyou," Bankotsu said irritably. InuYasha had sniffed the Shichinintai out and had already come to attack them. Bankotsu wasn't afraid, but he hadn't been ready to kill the half-breed and his friends yet.

"Heh, prepare to die, Bankotsu," InuYasha growled, jumping into the air with his sword above his head. He thrust it down yelling "Kaze no Kizu!". Bankotsu blocked the attack and slashed Banryuu at the dog demon. It made a deep gash across his chest. With a large spurt of blood, InuYasha fell back down to the ground. "Shit," he muttered.

Jakotsu laughed in an evil, maniacal way as he closed in on Sango. Her Hiraikotsu had already been slashed at so many times by the sword that it couldn't last much longer and she could not use it to block Jakotsutou anymore. Nor could she use it as a weapon- by the time she had a chance to throw Hiraikotsu, Jakotsu's weapon would already have killed her.

Suikotsu and the monk, Miroku, were steadily going at it. Miroku was blocking Suikotsu's metal claws with his staff. But, like the situation between Jakotsu and Sango, the villain was moving too quick for the hero to stop blocking and attack.

Shippo and Kirara were trying their hardest to fend off Renkotsu and Ginkotsu. It seemed they had an unlimited supply of gunpowder. Every time Shippo used his fox magic, Renkotsu used some kind of gun or explosive to turn the attack against him. Kirara growled fiercely as she ran toward Ginkotsu to tear him apart with her fangs or claws. She could not get close enough, though, because Ginkotsu continually shot bombs at her, or entangle her in metal wires.

Kyoukotsu and Mukotsu had wanted to keep a safe distance from all the ruckus. Kyoukotsu claimed he hadn't eaten enough and wasn't ready to go into battle yet while Mukotsu did not have all of his poisons ready yet. They had managed to get out of range of the sounds of fighting. Unfortunately, they had not tricked Koga's and Sesshoumaru's noses.

"You guys!" Koga yelled, running up to them quickly. After a short battle, Koga reached in to Kyoukotsu's forehead and ripped out the jewel shard. The body of the dead mercenary turned to bone as the wolf demon now held the bloody jewel shard in his hand.

"Bastard!" Mukotsu said angrily, pulling out a poison that would melt Koga's flesh clean off his bones. But, like his Brother, Mukotsu was unsuccessful. Sesshoumaru, who had been passing through because she smelled the scent of InuYasha's blood, cut the poison user down the center. He too turned to bone as Koga made sure he grabbed the second jewel shard. Koga and Sesshoumaru gave one brief look of acknowledgment and went separate ways.

InuYasha was covered in blood. His gold eyes had started to go blank as he was close to passing out. Miroku had several deep stab marks on his chest and shoulders from were Suikotsu managed to dig his metal claws into. Sango had a rather deep gash in her stomach from where Jakotsu hit her pretty hard with Jakotsutou. Shippo and Kirara had burn marks on them that were starting to really affect them. Besides the death of two of them, the Shichinintai were hardly beat up.

**MEANWHILE**

Neikotsu dragged Kagome into the shed where the well was located. She knew she couldn't go down the steps while dragging the hostage so she decided to go back the next best way she could think of: jumping.

'_I hope this works. I really don't want to stay here forever. Hmm…' _Neikotsu used her free hand to feel the tainted black jewel shard that was keeping her alive in her neck. _'Could this be the reason I was able to come here? The jewel shard? I wonder why this one let me go through the well. Maybe because Kikyou-sama purified it and this Kagome is her reincarnation? Oh well, I guess it's not that important. As long as I can return back home where things are normal. Bankotsu should be happy.'_

With that, Neikotsu jumped down the well, dragging Kagome the Hostage with her.

**IN THE FEUDAL ERA**

Bankotsu laughed evilly. "This is great! Because of that damn hanyou, InuYasha, two of my friends were killed. Now, we have the ability to get revenge by killing one of his. Good work, Neikotsu. However, we have to do it so he knows. Or better yet, so he sees. If we're going to slaughter the girl, we have to do it brutally and making sure InuYasha suffers as much as she will. Neikotsu, I have one last favor to ask of you. Send a message to InuYasha and his friends telling them if they don't bring us the jewel shards, Kagome will be killed."

Jakotsu who had been looking forward to seeing InuYasha said, "Hey, Oo-Aniki, want me to go give him the message? …And we _are _going to kill her even if they _do _bring the Jewel shards, right?"

"Of course we're going to kill her no matter what, Jakotsu. And I suppose you can go give him the message. In fact, that'd be even better. Hit on him so we can really make him suffer, okay?" Bankotsu joked with his friend, but Jakotsu took it literally.

"Okay! Bye-bye, see you guys later!" And he was off.

"So, what do we do with this bitch while we're waiting?" Suikotsu asked kicking the still unconscious Kagome slightly.

"How long will she be out?" Renkotsu asked Neikotsu, who had been quietly thinking to herself.

"I dunno. I hit her in the throat almost hard enough to kill her. Probably not too much longer, though."

Renkotsu, Suikotsu and Ginkotsu dragged Kagome off to make sure she wouldn't escape when she woke up while Neikotsu went to check on Bankotsu. She walked up to him and sat by him. He hadn't looked her in the eye since she returned and was now not even facing her.

"Is something wrong? Are you sad about Kyoukotsu and Mukotsu?" she asked concerned with how quiet Bankotsu had been.

"It couldn't be helped," he said rather coldly.

She sighed and leaned against him. "Bankotsu, it's okay if you are. I am. Is there any hope that they could be revived again?"

"No…" he responded, but sounded like there was a tiny bit of hope in his voice. "Really, it's okay. The best thing we can do now is get revenge." Bankotsu laughed, but it wasn't evil like before. It was his regular laugh that Neikotsu had grown to love.

He stood up, kissed her roughly and went over to where the commotion was. Kagome had woken up and Jakotsu was returning. Meaning that soon InuYasha would be there and it would be time for revenge.

And soon enough, InuYasha, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara, still badly wounded, came to the aid of their friend.

"Kagome!" they all yelled when they saw Bankotsu holding Banryuu right behind Kagome, with one move he could slice her in half.

"INUYASHA!" she yelled. "Help!"

"Do you have our Jewel shards?" Bankotsu asked calmly.

InuYasha growled out of hatred and gave two jewel shards to Suikotsu who had come over to get them.

"Alright, you've got the jewel shards. Now give us back Kagome!"

Bankotsu chuckled evilly. "As you wish," he said softly and in one quick fell swoop, brought Banryuu down across Kagome's back. Blood and guts spurted out her back as her eyes went dead as with the rest of her body.

"KAGOME!" InuYasha yelled as he rushed over to her. But it was too late- she was already dead. The Shichinintai all laughed, enjoying their revenge. Sure, she hadn't been tortured, but the point got across as two tears slid down InuYasha's face. As he held the lifeless body of the schoolgirl, the Shichinintai walked away. They were satisfied for now. Their two friends had been avenged and the Inu-Tachi had gotten their asses kicked.

"Feel better?" Neikotsu asked Bankotsu as they walked through the barrier of Mount Hakurei. Naraku would have wanted to know that one of his enemies was killed. Perhaps there would be a reward.

"Yeah, I do." He put his arm around her and kissed her neck. "I'll admit, I wasn't too happy to hear that Kyoukotsu and Mukotsu were dead, but I do love revenge," he said quietly in between kisses.

"Bankotsu," her voice shook as she spoke. "JAKOTSU, and everyone are right near us!"

"Yeah?" he said sarcastically, stroking her leg, moving more inward the higher up his hand went.

"Bankotsu!" Neikotsu moaned, but tried to make it sound more like an exclamation. "Can we do this later? You know… like when there isn't someone who will probably sadistically kill me if he saw this?"

With a smirk, Bankotsu stopped and started walking ahead of her. "Okay. But you better mean that. Besides, it's hard to do anything because of this barrier."

With a grumble, Neikotsu ran to catch up to Bankotsu.

**MEANWHILE**

"Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! DAMN!" InuYasha yelled angrily. "No matter what… I swear I will get my revenge."

* * *

Author's Note: Yeah, I know it's kind of weird to mix Ban and Nei's making out with revenge and killing a main character of InuYasha, but what can I say? Trust me, this is leading to something really important to the story. So, thank you to all who review, and please continue! 


	21. Autumn

**Chapter Twenty-One: Autumn**

Six weeks had passed since Kagome died. InuYasha, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Shippo were still grieving; InuYasha still wanted revenge.

Neikotsu's ankle was starting to feel better. She didn't even need Ginkotsu's assistance to move around. Bankotsu's mood had lightened and he wasn't quite as depressed as he'd been.

"Is it just me, or is it starting to get cooler?" Suikotsu asked Neikotsu as they tried to find some dinner.

"Hmm… Yes, I suppose so. Well, I think it's the 9th month by now, so it's not too surprising," she said for the first time realizing that it was turning into fall. The bright green leaves on trees were turning yellow, orange, red, and brown. Some had already fallen off and were swirling around in the autumn breezes.

"That means it will be winter in a few months…" Suikotsu said, mostly to himself.

"So it will be. Why, what's important about winter?"

"It will be eleven years since we were killed. I remember it was early winter because it was the first snow of the season. It's rather depressing, really."

Neikotsu couldn't think of anything comforting to say. She figured Suikotsu didn't care, but she felt dumb not saying anything. Truthfully, she'd wished her first death could have been doing something in the name of the Shichinintai, not drowning because she got stuck while hiding from Bankotsu. _'Maybe my next death will be noble,' _she thought.

"Well, you're alive now," she said in a rather blunt way, which made her mentally slap herself for just blurting it out.

Suikotsu laughed. "Yes, I am…."

A silence fell for a moment. It wasn't really uncomfortable, but Neikotsu still thought it'd be best if she said something.

"Suikotsu?" she said, but he never got a chance to answer. There was a quick rustle in the bushes and in the blink of an eye, someone popped out. Before Neikotsu had a chance to go into defense mode, she felt a familiar attack that she had used many times herself- a sharp twisting jab in the back, used to paralyze the lungs. It only caused the victim to pass out, and not actually die, so she knew the attacker didn't want her dead… yet.

"Neikotsu!" she heard Suikotsu yell, followed by the blurry sight of him trying to fight someone off, then everything went black as she fell to the ground.

"Ugh…" Neikotsu mumbled, coming to. "Wha… What happened?"

"Hey! Good thing Suikotsu saved you. Whoever that person was, they tried to kidnap you. According to him, the person was a ninja, but they wore a mask, so he couldn't tell who it was. Do you know the person? Do you know if anyone he a vendetta against you or a reason to want you dead?" A familiar voice asked eagerly as she sat up.

"Cho… do you think you can give me five seconds to grasp what happened before you start the interrogation?"

Chouyouma shrugged and sunk down so he was at eye level. "Well, go ahead. Tell."

She glared at him for a second, then told him how the person popped up out of nowhere, attacked her, and that was all she remembered. He sighed exasperatedly and coughed. "You know, I think I may know who it is… the person who attacked you, that is."

"Y-you do? Who is it?" she asked, suspiciously. _She _didn't even have a clue who it could've been. It was odd that he did. Neikotsu wasn't even completely sure she could trust the ghost. He was, after all, one of Naraku's henchmen. Not only that, but he knew the traitor Kageyu and was helping the person who tried to trick her. Not to say, she didn't like him. Over the short time she'd known Chouyouma, Neikotsu had actually become pretty good friends with him. But still, he was a bit suspicious.

Before he answered, Bankotsu and Jakotsu walked in. The moment they did, Cho smiled widely and sunk down into the floor and disappeared. "Hey! Come back here!" she shouted, but he didn't return.

"What was that about?" Jakotsu asked examining where he went through the ground.

Neikotsu sighed. "Nothing…. How's Suikotsu doing?"

"Fine," Jakotsu said, plopping down next to her. "He's not hurt or anything. But way to go! I heard it was a ninja who attacked and he wanted _you_. Great, put us in danger because you make enemies."

Whether he was joking or not, Bankotsu laughed. "Now, now, Jakotsu. It's not her fault people want her dead. Do you have any idea who it could've been?" he said, looking at Neikotsu.

"No, not at all. I suppose, maybe, it could be someone who wants revenge because I killed one of their loved ones or something…."

"I doubt it. Someone like that probably wouldn't be from a village we attacked. And even if they were, why would they go after just you and for that matter, kidnap you?" Bankotsu said, trying to think of someone who could have the motive.

"Nothing we can do about it," Jakotsu stated simply. "She's tough enough to fend off one of her own," he gestured toward Neikotsu. "Come on, Aniki, I think Mukotsu got the sake!" He got up and ran off, leaving Bankotsu and Neikotsu alone.

Bankotsu took Jakotsu's place next to her. "Are you worried?"

"Not really. It's probably a scheme of Naraku or something. It doesn't matter."

Bankotsu smiled smugly and stared at her.

"…What?" she said, when he didn't stop.

He just smirked and stood up. "Do you want to come drinking with us?"

She gave him a questionable stare. "Why? What are you up to?"

Bankotsu gave her one of his famous sweet and innocent looks. "What do you mean? We haven't had sake in ages and the last time we did, you didn't join us. So, I was merely being polite and asking if you wanted some."

Neikotsu raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically, "Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?"

"Nooo, I'm trying to get everyone else drunk so they'll be passed out the rest of the night and we can have sex. …You were close though."

She could feel her face get really hot and she knew she was blushing a badly. "Um… okay…."

Bankotsu laughed sweetly. "I never get tired of seeing you blush. Anyway, are you coming or not? If you remember, you didn't keep the promise you made at Mount Hakurei."

"Oh, yeah. Um, I guess so. Are you sure that will work?"

Bankotsu shrugged absently and looked off into space. "Maybe." He gave her a nervous look for a second. "Just…" he continued, "Make sure that…. Uh, never mind."

Neikotsu gave him a puzzled look. "What? What is it?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment, like he was going to tell her, but instead said, "It's nothing. Just forget it."

Neikotsu joined the rest of the Shichinintai in their drinking. Slowly, one by one they all got drunk and were stumbling about, laughing, and talking loudly, not using coherent sentences. That is, all but one. Unfortunately, it wasn't Bankotsu who was the sober one; it was Renkotsu.

'_Well, there goes that plan,' _Neikotsu thought kind of irritated. She had been slowly sipping her sake to ensure she wouldn't get drunk, but started taking bigger gulps, not caring either way. She glanced over to see that Renkotsu hadn't drank much either. He sat there watching them all, an unfamiliar look on his face. Renkotsu usually looked annoyed when they acted like fools, but that night he mostly just looked sad. Letting curiosity get the better of her, Neikotsu wandered over and sat down by Renkotsu.

"Renkotsu no Aniki, is something wrong?" she asked in the most pleasant voice she could muster.

He stared blankly at her for a moment. "What do you mean?" he said eventually, in an emotionless voice.

She shifted uneasily, not being skilled in the art of human interaction. "I mean you seem a bit depressed tonight. Is everything alright?"

Like Bankotsu had done earlier, he looked as if he was going to tell her something, but didn't. Instead he hardened his glare and said in his usual cold voice, "Nothing's wrong." But Neikotsu could tell that there was something bothering him. She had noticed quite a while back ago he was acting different at times. She didn't pay much attention to it, but now that made her feel bad. Even if they weren't the best of friends, he was still one of her teammates, and she felt, perhaps, if she was nicer, he would be too.

"Are you sure you don't want to tell me? I'm a good listener and maybe it'd help to tell someone," she said, surprising herself. Neikotsu had always felt that if something wasn't her business and someone didn't want to talk about it, then the matter would not be pressed and she'd stay out of their business.

Renkotsu gave her another look. This one bothered her though. He gave her the familiar look that Bankotsu had given her so many times before. And without any warning, he leaned forward and kissed her.

* * *

Author's Note: Gah, sorry it took me so long to update. Busy with stuff…. This chapter was annoying to write. It seems so… choppy. I haven't written in so long, maybe I'm just out of whack or something. I don't know. Anyway, please review, I'll try and get the next chapter up faster. 


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